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HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

History of Channelkirk

REV. ARCHIBALD ALLAN, M.A., F.S.A. Scot.

Minister of the Parish

WITH FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS

EDINBURGH
JAMES THIN, 54 and 55 SOUTH BRIDGE

1900

«^

DeMcation

THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED TO

JAMES A. NASMYTH, Esq.

MIDDLEBANK, DUNFERMLINE
WITH EVERY EXPRESSION OF AFFECTIONATE RESPECT

57119?

PREFACE

The following chapters had their origin in the idea of
"Church Defence." In 1892, an agitation became general
throughout the Church with reference to the question of
its Disestablishment ; and in Lauderdale, as elsewhere, its
influence became paramount, and almost simulated a phase
of panic. The writer ventured to believe that, as a rule,
more harm than good is done when platform and political
tactics are adopted to accomplish moral and spiritual ends ;
but far from waiving responsibility in the cause of national
religion, and convinced that the Church can only be safe
when her principles, her work, and her character are
respected, it seemed to him a duty to try, in his own parish,
to effect, if possible, somewhat of this desirable result, and
by methods which appeared to him to promise as enduring
success as those which were then in vogue. The book is
a humble contribution towards this purpose. True, it is
an indirect and slow method : in the nature of things it
must be so : but even when the immediate end to be
compassed is chiefly conditioned by political action, an
increa.sed public interest in a Church and Parish, sustained
by the records of their ancient traditions, may make itself
long felt through many channels. It is also a method to

viii PREFACE

which local sympathies are peculiarly susceptible, for men
of all shades of opinion and faith pay homage to the
past ; and, at least, it is always above those irritable and
divisive feelings which spring so disastrously from sectarian
or denominational action pressed along the lines of party
politics.

The writer claims no merit in the work save that of
trying to be faithful in the collection, compilation, and
arrangement of his materials. The narrative has grown
from a single lecture, delivered in Oxton Schoolroom, to
about a score of people. Approximately, one half of the
book deals with the Church, and the other half with the
places in the parish. It is hoped that thereby one may
be able to gratify a particular interest without requiring to
peruse the whole.

The warmest gratitude is due to many kind friends who
have, one and all, given ready and invaluable aid. It
would be impossible, of course, to give details, but impor-
tant help has come from Principal Story, Glasgow ; the
late Professor Mitchell, St Andrews; Professor W. W.
Skeat, Cambridge ; Professor T. York-Powell, Oxford ; Pro-
fessor Mackinnon, Edinburgh ; Professor J. Rhys, Oxford ;
Rev. Dr James Gammack, West Hartford, Connecticut,
U.S.A.; the late Dr Hardy, Old Cambus ; William Aitken,
Esq., retired Classical Master, Strathkinness, St Andrews;
John Ferguson, Esq., F.S.A. Scot., Writer, Duns ; John C.
Brodie, Esq., & Sons, W.S., Edinburgh, etc., etc.

A special meed of praise is due the librarians and
assistants in the Advocates' Library, the Signet Library,
the Museum of Antiquities, and the Public Library, Edin-
burgh ; also to those of the University Libraries of St
Andrews, Glasgow, and Aberdeen, and the Free Library,

PREFACE ix

Dundee. Their disinterested kindness and intelligent help-
fulness have placed the writer under the deepest obliga-
tions. The same falls to be said as emphatically with
regard to the officials in H.M. Register House, Edinburgh.
In the Historical, Record, and Teind Departments, the
able and necessary aid, freely and ungrudgingly bestowed
by all, can only be mentioned in terms of the heartiest
gratitude. Earlston Presbytery, the Heritors of the Parish,
and Lauder Magistrates, for records lent ; local authorities,
local working-men, and others who have contributed items
of interest regarding the people and places of the district,
are all warmly remembered here.

The Illustrations have been specially prepared for the
book by the firm of Hislop & Day, Swinton Row, Edinburgh.

ARCHIBALD ALLAN.

Manse of Channelkirk,
May 1900.

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

Natural Agencies — Geological View of Lauderdale — Twice a
Valley — The Leader— Prehistoric Man — Stone and Bronze
Ages — Population of the Dale in the Second Century —
Iberians — Goidels — Brythons — Picti — Scotti — Saxons —
Cuthbert — Kingdom of Bemicia — War and Religion — A
Common Faith — Lauderdale in Cuthbert's Day — Coming of
Cuthbert to Channelkirk — Norse Names in Upper Lauderdale
—Lauderdale in England— Parish Boundaries of Channelkirk
— The Lords of Lauderdale, .....

CHAPTER I

THE NAME

" Channelkirk "—Theories regarding the Origin and D*erivation

of the Name — Its Form at Various Dates — Chalmers' View

The Irish Life of St Cuthbert— Cuthbert in Channelkirk—

The Church Raised in Honour of the " Childe " Cuthbert

Dryburgh Abbey Charters and the Dedication— Bishop De
Bernham— The Priest Godfrey— Hugh de Morville as Patron
—The Name and the Reformation— Its Local Forms, 36

xii CONTENTS

CHAPTER I I

THE CHARTERS

PAGE

The first Charter in the Liber de Drybiirgh — The De Morville
Family — The Patron Saint of Channelkirk — Godfrey the
Priest and Hugo de Morville — Extent of De Morville's Estate
in Lauderdale— Kirk Lands near Pilmuir — Lauderdale in the
Thirteenth Century — Its Devout Men and their Gifts to
Channelkirk Church — Gifts "In Perpetuam" — An Era of
Bequests to Holy Mother Church — Supposed Atonement for
National Sin — Thomas of CoUielavv — Ancient Agricultural
Life— The Domus de Soltre and Channelkirk Church —
Fulewithnes — Glengelt Chapel — The Veteriponts — Carfrae
Chapel — The Sinclairs— Premonstratensian Order — Dedica-
tion of Channelkirk Church, a.d. 1241— Then and Now, . 52

CHAPTER HI

THE PARISH KIRK OF LAUDERDALE

Ecclesiastical Disputes in the Thirteenth Century— The Lauder
Case — Struggle for Teinds — Lord Andrew Moray — Eymeric,
Lauder Priest — Judicial Proceedings — The Pope's Sentence
and Suspension of Eymeric— Resistance of Eymeric — Final
Settlement Concerning the Chapel of Lauder — Channelkirk
Church, the Mother and Parish Church of the Whole Valley
—Triumph of Dryburgh Abbey — The "Parish" of the
Twelfth Century — First Mention of Lauder Church — Its
Patrons — Channelkirk Priests and Lauder — Lauder Church
or Chapel — Its Status before the Reformation, . . .81

CHAPTER IV

THE MINISTERS AND THEIR TIMES

Before the Reformation.

Godfrey, the Priest — Cuthbert and the Holy Water Cleuch — The
First Minister in Channelkirk and Lauderdale — The First
Church — Cuthbert's Fame — Five Hundred Years of Historical
Darkness — Channelkirk Priest in the Twelfth Century — Papal
Taxation — King Edward I. in Lauderdale — The Priests Serv-
ing Channelkirk and Lauder — Troublous Times — Lauder Brig
— Moorhousland and Lauderdale — Social Life in the Fifteenth
Century — Corruption of Church and Clergy — ^Reformation, . 106

CONTENTS xiii

CHAPTER V
THE MINISTERS AND THEIR TIMES— continued

After the Reformation ■ ^^^^

Seven Years after the Reformation — Ninian Borthuik — John
Gibsoun, Reader — Alexander Lauder — King James VI. and
I., and Episcopacy — Famine — Allan Lundie — Francis
Collace — Henry Cockburn — Report on Church and Parish
in 1627 — The Teinds — Knox's Indictment against the
Scottish Nobility — Lord Erskine — Suspension and Deposi-
tion of Cockburn — Suffers "great miserie " — Preaches at
Earlston — His Lawsuit — His Restoration to Channelkirk
— His Death, ....... 135

CHAPTER VI

THE MINISTERS AND THEIR TIMES — continued

After the Reformation

Professor David Liddell — Cromwell's Soldiers at Channelkirk
— At Lauder and Bemersyde — First Glimpse of Channelkirk
People — The Kirk Records — Divine Right of Kings, Prelacy,
and Presbyterianism — Terror and Desolation — Divot Renova-
tion of Kirks — Collections and Old Customs — The Lord's
Supper — Liddell's " Laus Deo" and Promotion — Walter
Keith — Earlston Presbytery and Prelatic Presbyterianism
— Kirkton on Keith — WiLLlAM Arrot — Received into
Presbyterian Communion from Prelacy — His High Character
— Called to Montrose, . . . . . '159

CHAPTER VH

THE VACANCY

An Ecclesiastical Five Years' War — fune \6gy-Sept. 1702

Election of Ministers, Past and Present — John Story - Charles
Lindsay, Lord Marchmont's Nominee — The Patron or The
People ? — The Presbytery and the Lord High Chancellor —
John Thorburn — Case Referred to Synod — Referred to Com-
mission of Assembly — New Elders — New Candidates —
Presbytery Distracted — Foiled Attempt to Elect — Presbytery
Obsequious to Lord Marchmont — William Knox— A Day of
Decision — Heritors and Elders of Channelkirk — Election of
Henry Home— Deplorable State of Religion — Presbytery to
be Blamed — Culpability of Marchmont, . . . .192

xiv CONTENTS

CHAPTER VIII

THE MINISTERS AND THEIR TIMES — continued

PAGE

Henry Home — The Records— Lithuania— Home as a Preacher
— Public and Domestic Troubles— Libelled by Presbytery —
Death Decides— The Rebellion of 1745 — Cope's Halt at
Channelkirk— Prince Charlie at Channelkirk — Church Disci-
pline — David Scott — Church Property — Scott's Description
of the Church— Stipend Troubles — New School — Declining
Health and Death— Thomas Murray— Heresy Hunting-
Recalcitrant Parishioners — Sabbath-Breaking — Becomes a
Heritor — Stipend Troubles — Farmers in Channelkirk in 1800, 208

CHAPTER IX

THE MINISTERS AND THEIR TIMES — continued

Rev. John Brown — Characteristics — Stipend Troubles — Odious
to Heritors — Litigation — Deficiencies in the Manse — Parsi-
mony and Law-cases — Glebe Worries — Church Ruinous —
Refuses to Preach — Church Courts — New Church — Muscular
Christianity — Behaviour in Church — His Death — Rev. James
Rutherford — Character— Ingenuous and Injudicial — Re-
cords—Assistants—Portrait—Rev. James Walker— Parish
and Presbytery Complications — Testimony of the Records-
Resignation and Emigration— Rev. JOSEPH LowE— Student,
Assistant, and Minister — Church Declension— Resignation, . 236

CHAPTER X

THE ELDERS, BEADLES, CHURCH, AND CHURCHYARD

Elders since 1650— Beadles since 1654— The Mortcloths— Salary
—The Church— Style of Architecture— Mode of Worship
— Kirk Bell — Rural Religion — Attendances at Church — The
Roll — Church Patrons — The Churchyard — Consecration —
Notable Tombstones — Resurrectionists, . . . 256

CONTENTS XV

CHAPTER XI

THE STIPEND page

Its "Bad Eminence" in Church Histories— In Twelfth and
Thirteenth Centuries — Worth and Wealth of the Monks —
Drj'burgh Abbey and the Titulars of Channelkirk — Stipend
during the Years 1620-1900 — Heritors and Agents — Cess
Rolls, ........ 291

CHAPTER XH

SCHOOLS AND SCHOOLMASTERS
Education, Priests, Protestants, and Acts of Parliament — Knox's
Dream — First Glimpse of Channelkirk Schoolmaster —
Nether Howden School — Patrick Anderson — Hugh Wilson
— Carfraemill School — Andrew Vetch — John Lang — Cess for
Schoolmaster's Salary — Lancelot Whale — Robert Neill —
Channelkirk School and its Furnishings in 1760 — John
M'Dougall — Removal of School to Oxton — Nichol Dodds —
Alexander Denholm — Alexander Davidson — Henry Marshall
Liddell, ........ 319

CHAPTER XHI

THE BARONIES
Oxton — The Name, Origin, Meaning, and History — The Proprietors
— Oxton "Territory" — Kelso Abbey — The Abernethies — The
Setons — Home of Hemiecleuch — Ugston and Lyleston —
Heriots of Trabrown — The Templar Lands of Ugston —
James Cheyne — James Achieson — Division of Ugston Lands
— Wideopen Common — Inhabitants of Oxton — Trades in 1794
and in 1900 — Gentry, Tradesmen, Merchants, etc., in 1825
and in 1866 — Oxton Church — Societies, . . . 354

CHAPTER XIV

THE BARONIES — continued
The Name " Carfrae " — Ancient Boundaries of Carfrae Lands —
The Sinclairs of Herdmanston — Serfdom at Carfrae —
Division of Lands — The Homes — The Maitlands — The Haigs •
of Bemersyde and Hazeldean — The Tweeddales and Carfrae
— Tenants — Robert Hogarth — The Wights — Headshaw —
Hemiecleuch — Hazeldean — Friarsknovves — Fairnielees — Hill-
house — Kelphope — ToUishill, ..... 402

CONTENTS

CHAPTER XV
THE BARONIES — continued

PAGE

Hartside, the Name — Early Proprietors — Extent of Land-
House of Seton — Nether Hartside — Clints — Over Hartside —
Trinity College and the Superiority of Hartside and Clints —
The Riddells of Haining — Barony of Hartside — Hepburn of
Humbie — Hope of Hopetoun — Henryson — Dalziel — Borth-
wick of Crookston — Lord Tweeddale — The Original
Hartside — Barony of Glengelt — The Name — The Veteriponts
and Mundevilles— The Lord Borthwick— Raid of Glengelt
— Lawless Lauderdale — Hepburn of Humbie — The Ed-
monstons — Sleigh — Cockburn — Robertson — Mathie —
Hunter — Borthwick of Crookston — Tenants — The Den, . 440

CHAPTER XVI

COLLIELAW

The Name — Residence in 1206 — Sir Vivian de Mulineys —
Thomas the Cleric — The Borthwicks — The Heriots — Re-
duplication of Place-Names — The Kers of Morristoun —
House of Binning and Byres — Fairgrieve — Adinston of
Carcant — The Scottish Episcopal Fund — Earl of Lauderdale
— Tenants, . . . . . . .481

CHAPTER XVn

Air HO USE — Arowes, Arwys, Arus, A r rot's, Arras, Artits.

The Name— Adam del Airwis— Strife at Arrois in 1476— The
Hoppringles— The Heriots of Arrois— The Somervilles of
Airhouse, 1654— "Arras, now called Airhouse," 1773— Kirk-
Session Squabbles — Gloomy Days at Airhouse — Lord Lauder-
dale— Situation and Area of Airhouse— Tenants — Parkfoot —
Tenants, ........ 500

CONTENTS xvii

CHAPTER XVIII

OVER HOWDEN — KIRKTONHILL — JUSTICEHALL

PACE

Howden, the Name — In Oxton Territory — Kirk Land — John
Tennent — The Heriots — The Kers of Cesford — Sir Adam
Hepburn, Lord Humbie — John Sleigh — The Watherstones —
The Polwarth Scotts — Justice of Justicehall — Dr Peter
Niddrie — Situation and Area of Over' Howden — Tenants.

Kirktonhill — The Moubrays and Pringles — Murehous — The
Lawsons of Humbie — The Henrysons — Teind Troubles —
The Watterstones — Captain Torrance — Robert Sheppard —
His Peculiarities — William Patrick — Borthwick of Crookston
— Area of Kirktonhill and Mountmill — Tenants — Redwick
and Rauchy.

Justicehall — Sir James Justice of Crichton — James Justice of
Justicehall — Captain Justice — Miss Justice — Sir John
Calender — Sir James Spittal — The " Halves " of Ugston —
The Parkers — Situation and Area, .... 523

CHAPTER XIX

THREEBURNFORD — NETHER HOWDEN — BOWERHOUSE —
HERIOTSHALL

Threbumeforde in 1569^ Anciently called Futhewethynis or
Fulewithnis — Trinity College, Edinburgh — Wedaleford —
The Three Bums — The Borthwicks' Possession — The Allans,
Portioners — John Cumming, Minister at Humbie — Alexander
Pierie, Writer — The Falconers of Woodcote Park — The
Taylors — Situation and Area — Tenants.

Nether Howden — Kirk Lands — The Kers — The Mill —
William Murray — The Achesons — William Hunter — Charles
Binning — Rev. Dr Webster — Lord Tweeddale — The Tenants.

Bowerhouse — The name — Possessed by the Borthwicks — Andro
Law — Kers of Morriestoun — Charles Binning — The Thomsons
— Fairholm — Lord Marchmont — The Earl of Lauderdale —
The Robertsons — Ten Rigs — Situation and Area — Tenants.

Heriotshall from 1742 — The Two Husband Lands of Ugston
— The Heriots — The Forty-Shilling Lands of Ugston —
The Murrays of Wooplaw — Rev. Thomas Murray — The
Dobsons — The Masons — Situation and Area — Tenants, . 562

CONTENTS

CHAPTER XX

THE MILLS

PAGE

The Miller— Thirlage— The Mills of the Parish and their Sucken
— Mill of Oxton — Proprietary — Carfrae Mill— Adam the Mill-
knave — Carfrae Mill Inn — Tenants — Area of Farm — Wiselaw
Mill — History and Name^Tenants, .... 594

CHAPTER XXI

SHIELFIELD— OXTON MAINS — MIDBURN — BURNFOOT —
PARKFOOT — BRAEFOOT — ANNFIELD— INCHKEITH.

Shielfield — The Erskines — Over and Nether Shielfield — Kirk
Land — Area and Situation ; Oxton Mains — Proprietors-
Area, Situation and Tenants ; Midburn— Soil and Area ;
Burnfoot — Carsemyres — Ugston Shotts — Tenants ; Parkfoot ;
Braefoot ; Annfield ; Inchkeith, . . . . 614

CHAPTER XXn

EXTINCT PLACES

Sumuindnight — Venneshende — Langsyde — Channelkirk Village —
Muirhouse — Peasmountford — Pickieston — Old Collielaw —
The Dass — Bain's Croft — Rigside — Midlie — Southfield —
Butterdean — Longhope — Hillhouse Dodfoot — Carfrae
Common — Carfraegate — Upper Carfraegate — Headshaw
Hauch — Ugston Shotts — Ten Rigs — Walker's Croft —
Oxton Brig End — Rednick — Alderhope — Rauchy — Long-
cleuch — Herniecleuch — Hazeldean — The King's Inch — Malt-
Barns, ........ 629

CHAPTER XXHI

ANTIQUITIES

The Camps — at Channelkirk — at Kirktonhill— at Hillhouse — at
Carfrae ; Carfrae Peel — Ancient Burial — Bowerhouse — Over
Howden — Nether Howden — The Roman Road — The
Girthgate — Resting House — Holy Water Cleuch — Stone
Cross at Midburn — Curious Memorial Stone at Threebumford
— The Kirk Cross and Sundial — Old Roads, . . . 639

CONTENTS xix

CHAPTER XXIV

CHANNELKIRK TO-DAY

PAGE

The Lammermoors — Skelton and Carlyle — Area of Channelkirk
Parish — Population from 1755 — Industry' — Soil and Sheep —
Shepherding — The Fanners and the Land — The Agricultural
Labourer — Prices of Stock in 1490 and 1656 — The Game —
The Weather— Our Public Men— The Railway, . . 674

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

CHANNELKIRK CHURCH ... . Frontispiece

DISTRICT AROUND OXTON VILLAGE (from THE west) Face page 354

DISTRICT AROUND OXTON VILLAGE (FROM THE NORTH) „ 400

RUINS OF CARFRAE PEEL

NETHER HARTSIDE

GLENGELT

SITE OF OLD COLLIELAW

AIRHOUSE

OVER HOWDEN .

KIRKTONHILL

THREEBURNFORD

BOWERHOUSE

MOUNTMILL, SITE OF THE

CARFRAE MILL .

CAMP AT KIRKTONHILL

CAMP AT HILLHOUSE

RESHILAW OR RESTING HOUSE

THE HOLY WATER CLEUCH

VIEW OF UPPER LAUDERDALE FRO?kI ABOVE MOUNTMILL

" MILL OF ULFKILSTON "

iy~)i,

440

462

))

482

500

524

536

562

580

))

600

604

648

652

668

L „

674

HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

INTRODUCTION

Natural Agencies — Geological View of Lauderdale — Twice a Valley —
The Leader — Prehistoric Man — Stone and Bronze Ages — Population
of the Dale in the Second Century — Iberians — Goidels — Brythons —
Picti — Scotti — Saxons — Cuthbert — Kingdom of Bernicia — War and
Religion — A Common Faith — Lauderdale in Cuthbert's Day — Coming
of Cuthbert to Channelkirk — Norse Names in Upper Lauderdale-
Lauderdale in England — Parish Boundaries of Channelkirk — The
Lords of Lauderdale.

The history of a parish, in the most extended sense, begins
properly, not with its people, though the study of man is
to men the first of studies, nor with its Church or the move-
ments of religion, but with a consideration, however brief,
of those natural forces which through vast ages have raised
its hills, hollowed out its plains, sent forth and directed
its streams, given to it soil and vegetation, and modelled
its varied area into the general geographical conformation of
landscape which is presented to the eye of the interested
spectator. The profound researches of the past hundred
and thirty years have happily rendered this a task of com-
paratively easy accomplishment. The earth as well as the
heavens has sent forth a revelation, and the geological re-
cord has now proved itself no mere wild speculation, but a
veritable apprehension of truth and fact, which, though

2 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

necessarily characterised by stupendous horizons proportionate
to the gigantic changes effected within them, cannot hence-
forth be deemed unworthy a place on the same lofty emin-
ence occupied by our most sacred beliefs. The Creator, long
before Moses' day, wrote upon tables of stone.

When, however, we say that Channelkirk stands upon
Lower Silurian rock, which composes generally the higher
crests of the Lammermoor range, that Lauderdale is for the
most part surrounded by hills of Upper Silurian composition,
that the upper surface of the dale is of Old Red Sandstone
lying upon a bed of Silurian, we are aware that we are
touching upon spaces so vast and periods of time so remote
as, for all historical purposes, to be beyond the ken of the
boldest imagination. "The more the subject is pondered
over," says an authority,* "the more remote does the first
origin of the present topography become — the farther back
are we led into the geological past, and the greater are the
demands on our imagination in picturing to ourselves con-
ditions of geography and forms of surface that preceded
those which now prevail." When the Silurian rocks which
now compose the hills of Lammermoor were being moulded
in Nature's kneading trough, Lauderdale, like all Scotland,
was deep under sea,-f- and though the hills on either side of
the dale are only differentiated from the summits of Lammer-
moor by the respective terms of Lower and Upper Silurian,
the periods of time embraced in theij- separate formation
must be reckoned perhaps by millions of years. We should
also grasp but a feeble view of the actual facts did we
imagine that Lauderdale, with its graceful outline of mountain
steep and winding glen, rose out of the bosom of the primitive

* Scenery of Scotland^ p. ii., Sir A. Geikie. London, 1887.
+ Catalogue of Western Scottish Fossils^ p. 9. Glasgow, 1876.

INTRODUCTION 3

ocean wearing the same contour and general aspect which
we behold to-day. There is clear evidence that it has been
twice a level expanse and twice a valley. Our best authority
on the question thus discourses concerning it * : " It is in-
teresting to note that, in some instances, the existing valleys
coincide more or less markedly with valleys that were ex-
cavated in ancient geological times, and were subsequently
buried under piles of debris. The depression that now forms
the vale of Lauderdale, for example, is at least as old as the
Upper Old Red Sandstone period. Even at that early time
it had been worn out of the Silurian tableland. Masses of
gravel and sand, washed down from the slopes on either
hand, gathered on its floor. A little volcano, contempora-
neous with the larger outbursts of the Eildon Hills and the
Merse of Berwickshire, broke out at its upper end, but was
at last buried under the accumulating heaps of detritus,
which in the end filled up the valley and spread over the
surrounding hills. In the course of later geological revolu-
tions, this region has once more been upraised, denudation
has been resumed, the Old Red Sandstone has been in great
measure stripped off the hills, and at last the long hollow,
once more exposed to the air, has again become a valley
that gathers the drainage of the surrounding high grounds."
The view which, it seems, we must try to comprehend, is
that, millions of years ago, what we now know as Lammer-
moor, Lauderdale, and Merse, was part of a vast plain com-
posed of Lower Silurian deposit. The interior forces of the
earth plicated this level sea-bottom so as to tilt and crumple
and invert it in every conceivable way. Air, rain, springs,
frost, and changes of temperature attacked these, and through
many ages the first Lauderdale valley was formed by such

* Scenery of Scotland^ p. 306.

4 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

processes of disintegration, or were, as Professor Geikie puts
it, " worn out of the Silurian tableland." Then came the time
when over all this the conglomerates and Lower Red Sand-
stone were placed, and the valley of Lauderdale made once
more a level plain, to be raised subsequently to a height much
higher than our present Lammermoor hills. Again, the
frictional agents of the air, and the powers of heat, cold,
and gravitation began to scoop out the valley, with the
glens, the ravines, and the corries which we see to-day ; and
so vast has been the denudation that nearly the entire Red
Sandstone deposit has been scoured off the Lammermoors.
The vale of the Leader still retains a remnant of the
stupendous deposit, but all the hills surrounding it show
once more the Silurian or older rocks. '

This, roughly, is the general conception of Lauderdale
which geology gives to us. It is evident that the Leader
water, in all its ramifications, has been the principal architect
in laying down the direction of the dale, rounding the sombre
summits of the hills, curving the hollows, planing the crests
of the knolls, and slowly grooving through a bewildering
period, the lovely vale to which it has given both name
and character. The present river is as old, at least, as the
Old Red Sandstone period. From what has been said it will
be seen that the Lauderdale rocks are nearly all of aqueous
formation. Notable exceptions, however, are found in Earl-
ston Black Hill, and the hill north-east of Lauder between
Earnscleuch and Blythe waters. These are known as trap hills
of the species of felspar porphyry.* They are the chief excep-
tions to the almost unvarying graywacke and Old Red Sand-
stone rocks. The former consists generally of an aluminous

* See Bartholomew & Co.'s Geological Map of Scotland, 1892, and Milne's
"Geology of Berwickshire" in Transactions of the Highland and Agricultural
Society, vol. xi., 1837.

INTRODUCTION 5

or argillaceous sandstone, sometimes of a reddish-brown, but
for most part of a light greenish-blue colour. The gray-
vvacke strata are almost vertical throughout, running about
due east and west. Verification of this can be proved at
Soutra, Dodd's Mill, and Earlston. They seem to be, in
this district, entirely destitute of organic fossil remains ; but
it appears * " a few specimens of graptolites have been found
near Kelphope," and it is possible that many more may exist,
as neither Lauderdale nor the Lammermoors have been
exhaustively explored in this respect.

The Old Red Sandstone rocks completely fill the dale
from side to side, running up into the various glens and lap-
ping the sides of the Silurian hills like waves that had dashed
up the valley and been fixed ere they could again recede.
The village of Oxton, for example, stands on Old Red Sand-
stone, and the whole of Airhouse estate is, generally speak-
ing, composed of this kind of rock. Wherever there is a
hollow in the parish, especially on the edges of the dale, it
is almost certain to be filled with Old Red Sandstone, while
the heights surrounding such a hollow are as likely to be of
graywacke. The Old Red Sandstone generally rests on a bed
of conglomerate which is visible nearly all through Channel-
kirk parish in the bed of the Leader, and again from the
neighbourhood opposite Trabrown, southwards almost to
Carolside. Evidences of it are also seen in the Boon water,
and that of Earnscleuch. There are few fossils of any organic
remains in the Upper Old Red Sandstone.

It is needless to say that at this period to which reference
has been made man had not come upon the earth. Countless
ages must have intervened before human history became
possible in Lauderdale, and numberless geological changes

* James Wilson, Editor, Galashiels.

6 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

must also have visited the scene which now looks so peaceful
and habitable and familiar to Borderers, In process of
time, however, the solitary rule of natural forces became
varied by human life, with all its marvellous latencies of
progressive industry, civilised government, and exalted con-
sciousness of immortality. Slowly the human brute began
to apply his savage ingenuity to the capture of his prey,
the destruction of his enemy, and the grinding of his food,
and what we know as the Stone Age dawned upon the world.
Early man discovered that instead of tracking his quarry to
the earth by speed of foot, the well-directed flint arrow
might as well serve his purpose. His foe abroad, and his
family at home, experienced in a similar way this battle of
the brain against resisting circumstances. In Lauderdale,
this phase of mortal existence, as marked by both the Stone
and Bronze Ages, has left a few traces of its presence. Stone
and bronze axes, stone hammers, flint knives, flint arrow-
heads, flint scrapers, bronze ingots, bronze bridle-bits, and
such like found at Hillhouse, Over Howden, Bowerhouse,
Longcroft, Lauder, Lauder Moor, and Earlston, attest the
presence of aboriginal man on the banks of the Leader.
From the fact also that these specimens are generally in
Channelkirk parish found comparatively high up on the slop-
ing sides of the dale, it seems a just inference that these
implements were used at a remote date when the waters of
the Leader flowed at that altitude, and had not eroded them-
selves down to their present level. This consideration, of
itself, conveys a fair conception of the immense lapse of time
that has transpired since man first found a home beneath
the shadow of the Lammermoors.

It is with a sense of relief that in the second century of
the Christian era we find ourselves within the purview of

INTRODUCTION 7

historical human life, and see on even these far horizons the
Celtic tribe of the Otadini populating broad territory, what
is now Berwickshire and East Lothian, and consequently
the vale of the Leader ; and bequeathing to us, as seems
worthy of all credence, not only the name of the river by
which Lauderdale is known, but many a place-name and
river-name on both sides of the Lammermoor range.

This people come before us originally, about 120 A.D., in
the great work of the Roman geographer, Ptolemy, in which
he curiously delineates the coasts of Scotland, marks the
position of towns, describes the tribes in the interior, and
denotes them by their names. Dr W. F. Skene and Professor
Rhys have treated -the subject so fully and learnedly that
to follow them is to obtain the clearest light possible on
these " dreary wastes of the past." The former says * :
" A line drawn from the Solway Firth across the island to
the eastern sea exactly separates the great nation of the
Brigantes from the tribes on the north ; but this is obviously
an artificial line of separation, as it closely follows the course
of the Roman wall, shortly before constructed by the Emperor
Hadrian, otherwise it would imply that the southern boundary
of three barbarian tribes was precisely on the same line
where nature presents no physical line of demarcation.
There is on other grounds reason to think that these tribes,
though apparently separated from the Brigantes by this
artificial line, in reality formed part of that great nation.
These tribes were the Otalini or Otadeni and Gadeni, ex-
tending along the east coast from the Roman wall to the
Firth of Forth." The Brigantes nation seem to have been
a powerful one, and their name, says Rhys,-f- " would seem to
have meant the free men or privileged race, as contrasted

* Celtic Scotland, vol. i., p. 71. f Celtic Britain, p. 283.

8 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

with the Goidelic inhabitants." From the Brigantian people,
it appears, who for most part north of the Cheviots were
Otadeni, was derived the name Bernicii^ the Latin form of
the name known to Bede ; which became, when used to de-
nominate their country, Bernicia, the northern part of the
kingdom of Northumbria in the seventh century or, roughly
speaking, Berwickshire and East Lothian. The Otadeni were
Brythons, or those who spoke the language of the people
of Wales and the Bretons,* as distinguished from those who
spoke the Gaelic of Ireland and the Scottish Highlands.-f*
" They disappeared early, their country having been seized
in part by the Picts from the other side of the Forth, and
in part by the Germanic invaders from beyond the sea."

Briefly, the peoples who are reputed to have inhabited
Lauderdale from a considerable time beyond the Christian
era, were, first : —

The non-Celtic race that preceded the Goidels or Gaels
and Brythons, who conquered it and probably enslaved it.J
This race is by some called " Iberian " or " Basque," but
there is some dubiety concerning this view. Professor Rhys§
believes that " Ivernian " would be a safer designation, and
that it might be applied || "to the non-Celtic natives of Britain
as well as of the sister island." That this non-Celtic race,
by whatever name known,^! " spread over the whole of both
of the British Isles," there appears to be little reason to doubt,
as well from the expressed convictions of several ancient
writers, as from an examination of prehistoric sepulchral
remains. They are differentiated from succeeding races by
their long cranial development, numerous skulls of this type

* Celtic Britain, p. 3. f Ibid., p. 222.

X Celtic Scotland, i., 164., "Origin of the Aryans," p. 92-101, Dr Isaac Taylor.

§ Celtic Britain, p. 265. || Ibid., p. 266, IT Celtic Scotland, vol. i., p. 169.

INTRODUCTION 9

being found in long barrows and chambered gallery graves
in our country. They were a people that frequented caves,
and buried their dead in them, and used stone implements.

Second, the Celts, who may have come at two distinct
periods.* "The Goidels" (Gaels) "were undoubtedly the
first Celts to come to Britain." "They had probably
been in the island for centuries when the Brythons, or Gauls,
came and drove them westward." The Iberians were dis-
placed or enslaved by the Gaels, and the Gaels in turn were
subdued or routed by a branch of their own Celtic race, the
Brythons.f It is these last that Caesar is supposed to have
seen and described. According to him, and writers such as
Strabo, Tacitus, and Pomponius Mela, they were expert
fighters, combining celerity with weight in their attacks, and
the quick movements of cavalry with the compactness of
infantry. They were adepts in the management of the
chariot and hurling the dart. They stained themselves blue
with woad, and were horrible in appearance. The hair was
worn flowing, and they were clean shaven except the upper
lip and the head. Parties of ten or twelve had wives in
common. The tribes, under rule of kings, or say patriarchal
chiefs, were continually at war one with the other. Their
idea of a town or fortress was an enclosure with a tangled
wood surrounding it, protected by a rampart and ditch.
They built their huts inside this defence, and collected also
their cattle there, but not for purposes of permanent, but
only temporary, residence.

Third, the Brythons were in turn conquered by the Picts,
who were of the Celtic branch known as Gaels. | They
superseded the Brythonic Otadini, and formed the population
of the Otadini district during the fifth and sixth centuries.

* Celtic Britain^ p. 4. t Und., p. 53. % Celtic Scotland^ vol. i., p. 2 18.

10 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

Doubtless the Otadini would be partly exterminated and
partly enslaved, according to the usual customs of barbaric
war. Speaking of the Picti, Picts, or painted men, as applied
to the nations beyond the Northern Wall, and of the people
on the Solway called Atecotti who were probably included
in the same name, Rhys says, " Now, all these Picts were
natives of Britain,* and the word Picti is found applied to
them for the first time, in a panegyric by Eumenius, in the
year 296 ; but in the year 360 another painted people ap-
peared on the scene. They came from Ireland, and to dis-
tinguish these two sets of painted foes from one another, Latin
historians left the painted natives to be called Picti, as had
been the custom before, and for the painted invaders from
Ireland they retained, untranslated, a Celtic word of the
same (or nearly the same) meaning, namely, Scotti. Neither
the Picts nor the Scotti probably owned these names, the
former of which is to be traced to Roman authors, while the
latter was probably given the invaders from Ireland by the
Brythons, whose country they crossed the sea to ravage."

Gildas writing, it is assumed, in the sixth century, gives
us a sad account of the state of the country under the
attacks of Picts and Scots.*|- He says the Brythons were
forced to crave help from the Romans to expel them.| They
were oppressed and enslaved under nameless tortures. But
when the Romans had left, never more to return, the Picts
and Scots came again in their canoes,§ " differing one from
another in manners, but inspired with the same avidity for
blood, and all the more eager to shroud their villainous faces
in bushy hair than to cover with decent clothing those parts
of their body which required it." He seems to point directly

* Celtic Britain, p. 238.

t Six Old English Chronicles, Dr Giles, 1896. J Sec. 15. § Sec. 19.

INTRODUCTION 11

to the district of which Berwickshire is now a part, when he
further says, " Moreover, having heard of the departure of
our friends " (viz., the Romans), " and their resolution never
to return, they seized with greater boldness than before on all
the country towards the extreme north as far as the Wall."
Dr Skene says,* " this probably refers to the districts after-
wards comprised under the general name of ' Lodonea,' or
Lothian, in its extended sense, comprising the counties of
Berwick, Roxburgh, and the Lothians."

Nothing, according to Gildas, could equal the horrors of
the time. The Brythons he despises, yet deeply pities as
sheep eaten up of wolves. They took to the heights and
garrisoned them with men, who, he says sarcastically, were
slow to fight, and hardly fit to run away. He pictures them
(and the scenes may have been all exampled on the " camp "
heights of Lauderdale), as sleeping on their watch, so useless
were they, and the wily enemy stealing up the slopes to hook
them off the walls, and dash them to death on the ground.
However, he consoles himself, it saved them from seeing the
horrors that overtook their brothers and sisters. Unrelent-
ing, remorseless cruelty reigned over all. They were
butchered like sheep, " so that their habitations were like
those of savage beasts." The whole country was rent also
by internal feuds, and provisions could not be procured.
They sent in despair to the Romans for assistance. "The
barbarians drive us to the sea ; the sea throws us back on
the barbarians." But the Romans could not help ; and so
the discomfited people wandered among mountains, in caves
and in the woods, a homeless life, with persecution, famine,
and torture lurking in ambush for them. But the cup of
their anguish was not yet full. When they were unequal to

* Celtic Scotlatid, vol. i., p. 131.

12 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

repelling the barbarian Picts and Scots, and could find no
hope in Roman interference, they took counsel and resolved
to invite the Saxons to their aid. This policy sealed their
doom.

Fourth, the barbarian Saxons were "a race hateful both
to God and men,"* impious and fierce. From being pro-
fessedly friends, the Saxons soon became exacting and
aggressive in their demands. Open rupture followed, and
the entire realm, which now we name Scotland, became an
arena of contending peoples. The Brythons, the Picts, the
Scots, and Angles engaged in open struggle for the mastery.
From the circumstance of the Lothians being central ground
lying between Pictland north of the Forth, and the land of
the Brythons south of it, with the Scotti breaking in from
Ireland on the east coast, and the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes
pressing from the south, we may reasonably infer that the
forces of war raged across Berwickshire interminably during
this clashing of these races throughout the latter half of the
fifth century. It is at this period, however, that the great
personality of Arthur moves across the historic stage as
championing the cause of the oppressed Brythons against
the Saxons, and that tradition sees him so near the confines
of Upper Lauderdale as the vale of the Gala, victorious over
his foes, in the fastnesses of Guinnion, and working such ruin
among the Anglic forces there as to perpetuate their disaster
in the name of Wedale.

A hundred years before Cuthbert is said to have been
brought to Channelkirk, Lowland Scotland was thus the
stormy theatre of those illustrious deeds which in later ages
fascinated the highest genius. It was in 537, at the battle of
Camlan, that the Lothian Medrand slew in battle the heroic

* Gildas, Sec. 23.

INTRODUCTION 13

Arthur, and so to all appearance neutralised the advantages
which ha!d been achieved by that warrior's victories from Loch
Lomond to the Lammermoors. And when that strong arm
could no longer resist the aggressive intruders, and the
kingdom was not yet fated to be consolidated under one
crown, his triumphant opponents were then free to portion
out the land as they listed. The boundaries of the kingdom
of Bernicia came into existence under Ida, its first king, in
the year 547, and extended from the Tees to the Forth,
thus embracing what is now Berwickshire ; and as a conse-
quence, Lauderdale thus early was put under the domination
of the Angles. Twelve years later, in 559, this kingdom
seems to have been submerged as a province within the
greater kingdom of Northumbria, which stretched from the
Forth to the H umber, and which as one regal organisation
held sway over all that district with substantial appearance
of unified power. Such changes do not happen without
great bloodshed and terrible sufferings among the common
people. Serfdom in its fiercest forms must have prevailed
throughout all the conquered districts, if the wretched people,
indeed, were always fortunate to escape total extermination.
As the restraints of war were then limited only by the
appetites of the conquerors, and the Saxon nature was then
but in its semi-savage development, the condition of life of
the people who then inhabited Lauderdale under the Anglic
government can be better imagined than described. But,
as might be expected, the Saxon did not retain his spoils un-
challenged. The Britons of Strathclyde, the boundaries of
which, on its eastern side, ran down from the Lammermoor
Hills by Gala Water to the Pennine Range, were incessant
in their attacks upon them, as were also the Scots of Dal-
riada, and it was not till the great battle of Degsastane, in

14 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

603, that the mastery was decisively declared for the Angles.
This battle decided much and was fateful for the future.
It is described in the following account *: " Bede tells us
that Aidan came against Aedilfrid with a large and powerful
army. It consisted, no doubt, of a combined force of Scots
and Britons, at whose head Aidan was placed as Guledic, and
he appears also to have had the aid of Irish Picts. He
advanced against the Bernician kingdom, and entered
Aedilfrid's territories by the vale of the Liddel, from the
upper end of which a pass opens to the vale of the Teviot,
and another to that of North Tyne. The great rampart
called the Catrail, which separated the Anglic kingdom from
that of the Strathclyde Britons, crosses the upper part of the
vale of the Liddel. Its remains appear at Dawstaneburn,
whence it goes on to Dawstanerig, and here, before he could
cross the mountain range which separates Liddesdale from
these valleys, Aidan was encountered by Aedilfrid and com-
pletely defeated, his army being cut to pieces at a place
called by Bede ' Degsastan,' in which we can recognise the
name of Dawstane, still known there. Bede adds that this
battle was fought in the year 603, and the eleventh year of
the reign of Aedilfrid, which lasted for twenty-four years, and
that from this time forth till his own day (that is, till 731),
none of the kings of the Scots ventured to come in battle
against the nation of the Angles ; and thus terminated the
contest between these tribes for the possession of the
northern province, substantially in favour of the latter
people, who, under Aedilfrid, now retained possession of
the eastern districts from the Humber to the Firth of Forth,
as far west as the river Esk."

When we remember that religion and war, beyond all

* Celtic Scotland^ vol. i., p. 162,

INTRODUCTION 15

other influences, have, in all ages, swayed the destinies of
nations, we are not surprised to find these powerful elements
in the ascendant at this early stage of Scotland's develop-
ment. And while the forces of battle were thus forging
into shape the four kingdoms of the Picts, the Scots, the
Britons, and the Angles, the moral powers were not less
industrious in changing the wide realms of superstition and
pagan belief into those of spiritual enlightenment and
Christian faith. As of old, when the chaos of nature obeyed
the divine order which marshalled all into use and beauty,
so while armies raged around boundaries and territorial
sovereignty, the voices of the Christian missionaries were
heard above the storm, directing the path of kings and
peoples towards a loftier civilisation and a nobler humanity.
It is true that both political and moral movements expanded
far beyond the district which is our immediate concern in
this place, but as the motions of the smallest planet are only
understood when their relations to the solar system are
comprehended, so it seems to us that the condition of
Lauderdale when Cuthbert first crossed its boundaries can
only be grasped when we have sufHciently realised the state
of the country at large.

Only four years before Northumbria had formed itself
into the kingdom of that name under King Ida, and Lauder-
dale had thus become not only a part of Bernicia but of the
Northumbrian dominion which included it, Columba, of re-
nowned memory, was leaving the shores of Ireland to carry
the Christian Evangel to the benighted regions of the
Western Isles of Scotland. " In the year 563," says
Adamnan, "and in the forty-second of his age, Columba,
resolving to seek a foreign country for the love of Christ,
sailed from Scotia, or Ireland, to Britain." With his presence

16 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

and influence, the whole north of Pictland soon underwent a
speedy transformation. Only two years elapsed before he
had converted King Brude, the monarch of the northern
Picts. And consonant with the religious modes of national
conversion of those days, the enlightenment of the king was
the sign to the people to conform to the same belief
Columba's power was as effective as it was comprehensive.
The north and west soon stood subservient to his will. On
the river Ness he directs one king and creates another at
lona. Brude and Aidan .seem to have been deeply devoted
to the interests which Columba had at heart, and while the
one approves and assists at the founding of monasteries and
the spread of the Gospel, the other girds on his armour, as
we have seen at Dawstane, to expel the pagan and infidel
Angles of Northumbria, And although the latter remained
conquerors in arms in that great encounter, the power of
Christian truth was greater than the force of war, for
Northumbria also, as well as the north and the west, fell to the
Christian religion not long afterwards. This notable event
occurred in 627. The probable birth-year of St Cuthbert has
been placed by one of the best authorities in the year 626,
so that the future Apostle of Southern Scotland and Patron
Saint of Channelkirk would be just a twelvemonth old when,
for the first time, the whole of what we now call Scotland
professedly confessed the sway of the Christian religion.
This result was mainly brought to pass by the conversion of
King Edwin of Northumbria, whom Paulinus, ably supported
by the queen and the urgent counsels of Pope Boniface,
brought to a knowledge and confession of the faith. " King
Edwin,* therefore, with all the nobility of the nation and a
large number of the common sort, received the faith and the

* Bede's Ecclesiastical History, chap. xiv.

INTRODUCTION 17

washing of regeneration in the eleventh year of his reign,
which is the year of the incarnation of our Lord 627, and
about one hundred and eighty after the coming of the English
into Britain." Bede further says, " So great was then the
fervour of the faith, as is reported, and the desire of the
washing of salvation among the nation of the Northumbrians,
that Paulinus, at a certain coming with the king and queen
to the royal country-seat, which is called Adgefrin (Yeverin
in Glendale, near Wooler, Northumberland), stayed there
with them thirty-six days, fully occupied in catechising and
baptising ; during which days, from morning till night, he
did nothing else but instruct the people resorting from all
villages and places."

So that Cuthbert comes into a most crucial and exciting
crisis in the history of the district, when the crude and half
barbarous masses of population on both sides of the Cheviots
were being disciplined to nationality and central government,
and to follow with docility and ardour the spiritual instruction
of Christian bishops and their ecclesiastical methods. It
indicates the dawn of a new era for the country. For, not-
withstanding the relapse into paganism which shortly after-
wards took place under the powerful Penda, Christianity
revived once more in Northumbria, all the more assured'
perhaps, from its being buttressed by the new King Oswald
and the Columban Church. " The short-lived Church of
Paulinus," says Skene,* " could not have had much permanent
effect in leavening these Anglic tribes with Christianity."
Enlightenment came from the North and not from the
South. " It is to the Columban Church, established in
Northumbria by King Oswald in 635, that we must look for
the permanent conversion of the Angles who occupied the

• Celtic Scotland, vol. i., p. igg.

18 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

eastern districts between the Tweed and the Forth," that
is, the districts which now comprise Berwickshire and East
Lothian.

The changes which were thus being effected by royal
and religious influences when we first discern the presence
of Cuthbert in Lauderdale, were, as clearly appears, of the
highest importance to the land, and proved themselves the
foundation structure upon which the nation of future Scot-
land was to be firmly built. So early as 635, the four
kingdoms of the Picts, Scots, Britons, and Angles were as
clearly defined as are the four provinces of Ireland to-day,
each enjoying and obeying its central authority, and obtain-
ing within that central government protection and a measure
of prosperity. But the chief bond of cohesion seems to
have lain in the firm basis of a common faith which the
Christian religion now afforded them. Gibbon emphasises
the British " love of freedom without the spirit of union "
(vol. i., p. 19), but it surely marked a great advance when
the whole country held one common form of worship. From
the Cheviots to the Orkneys Christianity reigned supreme.
Pagan darkness might linger for a while over the hearts of
men, even as heavy mists linger along deep valleys till the
sun has risen high enough to dispel them, but the gospel
had brought a fuller day, and everywhere its vitalising
strength increased as the centuries rolled onwards. But as
yet, speaking generally, only the mountain peaks had caught
its light. The kings and leaders of the people first felt its
influences and yielded to its attractions. Many decades
indeed were to pass by ere the lower levels, the humbler
masses of the people, were to own with the same full intelli-
gence the new principles of life which Columba had scattered
over the land. It was this important work among the body

INTRODUCTION 19

of the people which fell to the care of such as Cuthbert, and
in this labour of patience and love history shows him as
eminently successful, as well as a conspicuous example of
the Christian teacher and saint.

It were perhaps a bootless task to endeavour to realise
the aspect of Lauderdale in the seventh century as far as
concerns its topography and general appearance of landscape.
Still the district as Cuthbert then saw it must have been,
in its main features, very similar to what it is to-day. The
permanency of the hills and valleys, glens, ravines, and
correis, climate and seasons, may pass unquestioned, and the
only difference in the aspect of scenery must be found in
the prevalence of open field or forest which might then
obtain. In the earlier centuries Roman writers depict
the Briton as living by very primitive methods. " Forests
are their cities," says one ; " for having enclosed an ample
space with felled trees, here they make themselves huts
and lodge their cattle." * It is perhaps safe to say that
forest more or less abounded over all the district between
the Forth and the Cheviots. This seems to have been the
case, at least, through several centuries later. The birch
tree, the ash, the rowan seem indigenous to the soil, and
would quickly clothe the hill-sides with dense wood ; while
the juniper, the whin, the willow, and the broom would spread
thickly over the intervening spaces. But woody land is
invariably moist and rains are frequent, and we can imagine
that such a valley as Lauderdale, with so many rivulets,
brooks, and " waters " pouring into the Leader from the sur-
rounding hills, would in those days often present a wild
watery scene of tumbling floods the whole breadth of its
planular area. The fact of Cuthbert having been engaged

♦ Strabo, Book IV.

20 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

under a master as shepherd seems, on the other hand, to
point to cleared ground for the purposes of pasturage. But
where the mode of Hfe was perilous, and the appeal to arms
perpetual, and marauding doubtless common, the flocks
perhaps were few in number, and would have more need
of protection from the wild denizens of the woods than
of wide spaces over which to range. Cuthbert, we are told,
was with other shepherds when he saw his vision, and this
combination, together with the circumstance of tending his
sheep by night, seem to give this surmise some confirmation.
The peaceful character attached to pastoral life, which in
general prevails amongst us now, cannot help us in forming
a conception of the same life in Northumbria in the seventh
century. When Cuthbert goes to Mailros Abbey to throw
in his lot with its pious inmates he has neither the aspect
of a shepherd nor the appearance of a monk. He is seated
on horseback and has a spear in his hand, as if all who
went abroad in those days either through Lauderdale or
beyond it must have possessed both means of speed to fly
from, and weapons to resist, imminent dangers. The over-
ruling Saxon and the newly subdued natives were not likely
to possess a deep affection for each other where tyranny
balanced the social scale on one side and serfdom on the
other. Private feuds would be common, and murder and
secret revenge and plunder the daily features of life along
the district of the Leader. Sheep and cattle would be pre-
cariously maintained to no greater an extent perhaps than
to serve the mere necessities of diet and common comfort.
The character of the conquering people did not insure a
much higher state of civilisation. The Saxon was by nature a
pirate on sea and a robber on land. " They left," says one,*

* Taine's English Literature^ vol. i., p. 42.

INTRODUCTION 21

" the care of the land and flocks to the women and slaves ;
seafaring, war, and pillage was their whole idea of a free-
man's work." Even in the seventh century he must have
looked upon Britain not so much as his home as an Ali
Baba's cave of plunder. The main characteristics of the
ruling tribe with whom Cuthbert came into contact were
well marked and unmistakable. We are told Jthat their
seizure of Britain did not refine them, but rather the reverse.
They are found there, according to Taine * " more gluttonous,
carving their hogs, filling themselves with flesh, swallowing
down deep draughts of mead, ale, spiced wines, all the strong,
coarse drinks which they can procure, and so are they
cheered 9.nd stimulated." As contrasted with Romans who
had also met and subjugated the Briton, they "are large,
gross beasts, clumsy and ridiculous when not dangerous and
enraged." These features were not effaced by a thousand
years of civilisation ; then " imagine what he must have been
when, landing with his band upon a wasted or desert country,
and becoming for the first time a settler, he saw extending to
the horizon the common pastures of the border country, and
the great primitive forests which furnished stags for the chase
and acorns for his pigs." But though he could kill himself
in order that he might die as he had lived, in blood, he
was not deficient in high moral conceptions. Marriage was
pure among them. A woman was sacred. No society has
ever been built up on a better basis than that for which the
Saxon nature provided material. Moral beauty he acknow-
ledged as a guide, and reverenced it even when wallowing
in physical excess. "This kind of naked brute, who lies
all day by his fireside, sluggish and dirty, always eating and
drinking, whose rusty faculties cannot follow the clear and

* English Literature, vol. i., p. 44.

22 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

fine outlines of happily created poetic forms, catches a
glimpse of the sublime in his troubled dreams." This mystic
touch in his constitution predisposed him to Christianity and
rendered the preaching of the monks an easy task. Its
love and terror, pathos and sublimity, its lofty disregard of
pain and death, and the magnificence of its hope and future
inheritance, were sure to find ready acceptance among a
race whose temperament seemed compounded of angel and
demon, hero and beast, and to whom the eternal world was
as awful and alluring as the ocean whose storms they braved,
or the land-spoils they captured at the peril of their lives.
The religion of the cross was first taught them, it seems, by
the Roman Paulinus, who sallied forth among them from
York. But the Columban Church, more aggressive from the
north and west, and having a ready-made disciple in King
Oswald, built up the Christian faith on a more lasting
foundation, and ultimately gave the death blow to Saxon
paganism.

These brief notes on the condition of the sixth century and
the beginning of the seventh are, of course, meant chiefly to
illustrate the personality and character of Cuthbert himself,
and to help us to realise somewhat his position in Lauderdale
and at Channelkirk at that early period. Cuthbert's life
and work have been written of exhaustively, but the points
questioned are numerous. This, of course, does not wholly
surprise us. No spot of history, sacred or profane, is abso-
lutely free from suspicion, but it would seem that those parts
which refer to Cuthbert's early days are destined to go
down to all time under the menace of interrogations. Writers
on the subject appear to divide themselves into two groups —
the ecclesiastical, and the laic. The Bollandists, Archbishop
Eyre, Bishop Dowden, to take a few from the one side, doubt

INTRODUCTION 23

the account which the Libellus de ortu S. Cuthberti, or, The
Irish Life, gives of his birth and boyhood ; and Green, Raine,
and Skene, to take a counter number from the other side,
lean to its probabilities as far as it is possible for human
credulity to go. We shall not attempt to give any decision
where so many learned minds disagree, but content ourselves
with following in the footsteps of those who are universally
accredited as being the best authorities. We cull the following
extracts from Skene's great work, Celtic Scotland* the better
to enable the reader to grasp the salient features in the history
of our Patron Saint, as well as to give in his own words an
account which is admitted to be unbiassed.

" If the great name in the Cumbrian Church was that of
Kentigern, that which left its greatest impress in Lothian, and
one with which the monastery of Mailros was peculiarly con-
nected, was that of Cudberct, popularly called Saint Cuthbert.
Several lives of him have come down to us ; but undoubtedly
the one which, from its antiquity, is most deserving of credit,
is that by the venerable Bede." " Bede, too, was born in the
lifetime of the saint whose life he records, and must have been
about thirteen years old when he died." " Bede tells us
nothing of the birth and parentage of Cudberct ; and though
he relates an incident which occurred when the saint was in
his eighth year, and which he says Bishop Trumuini, of
blessed memory, affirmed that Cudberct had himself told him,
he does not indicate where or in what country he had passed
his boyhood. When he first connects Cudberct with any
locality, he says that * he was keeping watch over the flocks
committed to his charge on some remote mountains.' These
mountains, however, were the southern slope of the Lammer-
moors, which surround the upper part of the vale of the

* Book II., p. 201.

24 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

Leader, in Berwickshire ; for the anonymous history of Saint
Cuthbert, which, next to his Life by Bede, has the greatest
value, says that 'he was watching over the flocks of his
master in the mountains near the river Leder.' There 'on
a certain night, when he was extending his long vigils in
prayers, as was his wont,' which shows the bent of his mind
towards a religious life, he had a vision in which he saw the
soul of Bishop Aidan of Lindisfarne being carried to heaven
by choirs of the heavenly host ; and resolved in consequence
to enter a monastery and put himself under monastic disci-
pline." " Thus Cudberct became a monk of the Monastery of
Melrose. As Bishop Aidan died in the year 651, this gives
us the first certain date in his life."

" The only Life which professes to give his earlier history
is ' The Book of the Nativity of Saint Cuthbert, taken and
translated from the Irish.' According to this Life, Cuthbert
was born in Ireland, of royal extraction. His mother,
Sabina, daughter of the king who reigned in the city called
Lainestri, was taken captive by the King of Connathe, who
slew her father and all her family. He afterwards violated
her, and then sent her to his own mother, who adopted her,
and, together with her, entered a monastery of virgins which
was then under the care of a bishop. There Sabina gave
birth to the boy Cuthbert, and the bishop baptized him,
giving him the Irish name of Mullucc. He is said to have
been born in ' Kenanus ' or Kells, a monastery said to have
been founded by Columba on the death of the bishop who
had educated him. His mother goes with him to Britain by
the usual mode of transit in these legends, that is, by a stone,
which miraculously performs the functions of a curach, and
they, land in ' Galweia, in that region called Rennii, in the
harbour of Rintsnoc,' no doubt Portpatrick in the Rinns of

INTRODUCTION 25

Galloway." " They then go to the island which is called Hy,
or lona, where they remain some time with the religious men
of that place. Then they visit two brothers-german of the
mother, Meldanus and Eatanus, who were bishops in the
province of the Scots, in which each had an episcopal seat,
and these take the boy and place him under the care of a
certain religious man in Lothian, while the mother goes on
a pilgrimage to Rome. In this place in Lothian a church
was afterwards erected in his honour, which is to this day
called Childeschirche, and here the book of the nativity of
St Cuthbert, taken from the Irish histories, terminates.
Childeschirche is the old name of the parish now called
Channelkirk, in the upper part of the vale of the Leader ; and
the Irish Life thus lands him where Bede takes him up."

" It is certainly remarkable that Bede gives no indication
of Cudberct's nationality. He must surely have known
whether he was of Irish descent or not. He is himself far too
candid and honest a historian not to have stated the fact if it
was so, and it is difficult to avoid the suspicion that this part
of his narrative was one of those portions which he had ex-
punged at the instance of the critics to whom he had sub-
mitted his manuscript. Unfortunately, Bede nowhere gives
us Cudberct's age. He elsewhere calls him at this time a
young man, and he says that his life had reached to old age."

" Cudberct resigned his bishopric in 686, and died in 687.
He could hardly have been under sixty at that time, and
it was probably on his attaining that age that he with-
drew from active life. This would place his birth in the year
626, and make him twenty-five when he joined the monastery
at Mailr6s. The Irish Life appears to have been recognised
by the monks of Durham as early as the fourteenth century,
and it is perfectly possible that these events may have taken

26 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

place before Bede takes up his history, though they are
characterised by the usual anachronisms." " The truth may
possibly be that he was the son of an Irish kinglet by an
Anglic mother ; and this would account for her coming to
Britain with the boy, and his being placed under a master in
the vale of the Leader."

It is unnecessary to follow further the great work of the
apostle of Southern Scotland. What Columban lona was
to the inhabitants of the lands north of Forth, so almost was
the Lindisfarne establishment of St Cuthbert to the Lothians
and the north of England.* All the churches of Bernicia from
Tyne to Tweed, and of Deira from Tyne to the Humber,
had their origin from the monastery of Lindisfarne, or
Holy Island.*!* We know from the " Coaevus Monachus," who
wrote a life of Cuthbert, and Bede, who has put his life into
both prose and poetry, that during his stay in Mailros,| " he
was wont chiefly to resort to those places, and preach in such
villages, as being seated high up amid craggy, uncouth
mountains, were frightful to others to behold, and whose
poverty and barbarity rendered them inaccessible to other
teachers." There is in all probability a reference here to the
district of Upper Lauderdale with which he was so well
acquainted as boy and shepherd. The region was " frightful
to others ": they were unacquainted with its wild and barbarous
inhabitants ; but to Cuthbert place and people were familiar,
and there he had often passed nights of prayer ; and to stay
among them for weeks together, as Bede tells us he did, was
but to renew former experiences, and sustain his former
character for piety and zealous propagation of holy religion.
The story of his subsequent life and death, and the weird

* Burton, vol. i., p. 275. fBede's Ecclesiastical History^ Bk. III., ch. iii.

X Ecclesiastical History^ Bk. IV., ch. xxvii.

INTRODUCTION 27

wanderings of his unburied corpse till it rested at last in
Durham Cathedral, do not come within the scope of this
work, and have rather reference to national history than to
the humbler fortunes of Channelkirk.

The centuries immediately following St Cuthbert's date
are noted for the historical darkness that lies over them.
The three great powers of race, religion, and regality, with
their thousandfold subordinate influences, are seen through
the dim mist of traditions, annals, and chronicles, in tragical
struggle for supremacy ; but except as involved in the vicissi-
tudes which befell wide tracts of territory, we have scarcely
a ray of light to show us, even in twilight outlines, the
particular character and trend of human life as it flowed
then through Lauderdale. Peace could scarcely have
reigned there when so many passions were in fury and
the deepest interests were in peril. The foundations of
future Scotland were then being laid, and the blood of
Saxon, Briton, and Dane watered them copiously. Lothian
is said to have been invaded six times during the ninth
century, Melrose and Dunbar reduced to ashes, and the
whole of Bernicia and part of Anglia to have been subdued
by Aed, son of Niel, King of Ireland. We are safe to assume
that Lauderdale shared in the horrors of these invasions,
though the silent earth has received all record of them
into her bosom for ever. It is conjecturable, however, that
the Danish incursions, and after them the Norwegian, may
have left proof of their existence here in a few of the
place-names which have been exhumed. " Oxton " village
was originally Ulfcytelstun, or the "tun" of Ulfcytel or
Ulfkill, a name which is purely Norse. The " Lileston " of
to-day was originally " Ilifston," Olafs-tun, or the " tun " of
Olave, also a name of Norse descent. Hartside lands come

28 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

before us in the early charters as having been held by Heden
and Hemming, the former of which may possibly be a
contracted form of Haldane or Half dene, a name which was
terrible enough all over Bernicia about 872. Hemming was
the name of a Danish leader who landed with Turkil in
1009, and ravaged Kent, Sussex, and Hampshire,* and this
Hemming, who is proprietor in Upper Lauderdale before
the twelfth century, clearly belongs to the same sea-roving
race. It is, of course, optional to regard these Norse names
as having come into Upper Lauderdale with some plunder-
ing raiders of the east coast who found it more advantageous
to remain here than return across the seas to their own
country ; or, on the other hand, to suppose that later they
had come north in the retinue of the powerful Norman sept
of De Morville, and through him had obtained landed im-
portance in lieu of services worthy of this honour.

Some scintillations of reflected light on the mundane
affairs of Lauderdale are thus perhaps possible to us from
these sources, but when we endeavour to descry there the
outlines of a church or any form of established religion, we
must reverse the usual order of our instincts and pass from
light into darkness. The period between 700 and iiooA.D.
is admittedly a benighted one. With the life of Cuthbert
all reference to Channelkirk ceases till the era of record opens
in the twelfth century under David the First. Yet there are
inductive processes by which from authentic facts we may
pass to reasonable conclusions regarding what must have taken
place during that interval, and arrive inferentially at general
truths. Cuthbert had passed away from Upper Lauderdale
to a wider field more suitable to his energies and genius, but
he was far from being forgotten there. There are few firmer

* Hoveden's Chronicle, vol. i.

INTRODUCTION 29

bonds on earth than those woven out of the religious zeal
and affection which converts have for their spiritual fathers.
His name rang over all the south, and there must have been
many who preserved the memory of his presence and work
among the gloomy mountains of his early experiences, and
especially on the banks of the Leader his name would be
enshrined in the hearts of those upon whose heads his holy
hands had been laid in consecrating baptism. A fitting
memorial of worship raised to commemorate his saintly
presence in their midst seems only natural when considered
as a possibility. The tradition which is found in the Irish
Life, and which is enthusiastically repeated by rhyming
chroniclers, cannot have been the outcome of pure fancy. If
it were a myth, what motive existed for the creation of such ?
The statements are infectious in the superlative expression
of their convictions. " The place itself is even still held by the
inhabitants as of the greatest note, in which a church to his
honour is now consecrated to God." The lapse of five or six
hundred years, that is, had not obliterated the fame of St
Cuthbert among these early people of Channelkirk. They
cannot even dream that any one in Scotland can be ignorant
of the circumstances : —

" That place is knawen in all' Scotland,
For nowe a kirk thar on stand,
Childe kirk is called commonly — "

And with such exuberant faith and words before us, it
.seems almost obstinate to disbelieve that the connection of
St Cuthbert with Channelkirk was genuinely accepted by
Scottish people in general in the way they have handed
it down to us.

When we reach the twelfth century, and enter the
peaceful haven of the testimony of Chartularies, it is to

30 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

find Channelkirk Church a well-settled institution on
the land which was then the property of Hugh de
Morville, Lord of Lauderdale, and under his benign
patronage. But though he bestowed it, towards the close
of his life, on the Abbot and brethren of Dryburgh Abbey,
there is not the least trace of an indication that it had
been founded or built by him. Lauder Church, moreover,
was in existence as early as 1170 A.D., but Dryburgh
monks testify that Channelkirk Church had been the
mother and parish church of all Lauderdale before Lauder
Church was founded there, and this fact of itself seems
to point to an early origin of the former. Cuthbert died
in 687, an event which was certain to arouse a deeper
and more hallowed enthusiasm for his name throughout
all the Lowlands, and our inference from the above
considerations may not be far from the truth, when we
surmise that the original Church of Channelkirk, which
was built and dedicated to him, may have come into
existence between the seventh and ninth centuries, during
the darkest period, that is, of its historical record.

Great and far-reaching changes, meanwhile, had
befallen the dale since Cuthbert rode down through it
to become a monk in Melrose, or had wandered over its
hills and glens teaching and preaching the Gospel to the
Angles and Brythonic serfs in their thrall. Ecclesiastically
a religious reformation, or rather revolution, had taken
place in the overthrow of the Columban or ancient Scotch
Church, and the adoption of the Roman Catholic in its
place, as fundamentally important, perhaps, as that which
transpired in the sixteenth century under Luther and
Knox, though not, indeed, so sweeping or abrupt in the
changes it effected among the people of the land. The

INTRODUCTION 31

influence of the Roman Church had steadily crept across
the country, and the power of its hierarchy was soon
paramount from shore to shore. This movement was
greatly aided by the advent into Scotland of Margaret,
afterwards Malcolm's Queen, and those who followed in
her train. Under the date 1067, the year following the
subjugation of England by William the Conqueror, the
Saxon Chronicle tells us, " This summer the child Edgar,
with his mother Agatha, his sisters Margaret and
Christina, Merlesweyne and several good men, went to
Scotland under the protection of King Malcolm, who
received them all. Then it was that King Malcolm
desired to have Margaret to wife ; but the child Edgar
and all his men refused for a long time, and she herself
was unwilling, saying that she would have neither him
nor any other person, if God would allow her to serve
Him with her carnal heart, in strict continence, during
this short life. But the king urged her brother until he
said yes, and, indeed, he did not dare to refuse, for they
were now in Malcolm's kingdom." Her powerful influence
in partly persuading, partly coercing through her royal
husband the hesitating priests who held the Ionic mode
of tonsure and observance of Easter, needs but an
allusion here.

Geographically we are to bear in mind that at this
time also Lauderdale was still in England and not in
Scotland. In 1091,* "Whilst King William was out of
England, Malcolm, King of Scotland, invaded this country."
King William hastened out of Normandy to repel him,
and when Malcolm heard that he and his brother sought
to attack him, " he marched with his array out of Scotland

* Saxon Chronicle.

32 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

into Lothian in England and remained therer^'^ The
boundaries of our country were not fixed on their present
lines till some time afterwards. Curiosity is a natural
feeling here, in the face of such facts, to know whereabout
in Lothian King Malcolm waited for the redoubtable con-
queror ; and as King William marched through Laodoniaf
into Scotia we naturally ask if it could be possible that
he may have led his forces by way of the great road, the
" Regiam Stratam " of the Charters, through Lauderdale ?
The valley was always in ancient times the main eastern
route between south and north. In 1072 J William led
both an army and fleet against Scotland, and while his
ships were sailing all round the coast, he himself crossed
the Tweed with his army. Possibly he may have found
it necessary, as others after him, to divide his forces, and we
are perhaps safe to conclude that part went up Lauderdale
and part round by Dunbar. It may, indeed, have been that
within five years, viz. 1067-72, these two notable royalties.
Queen Margaret, strong of soul, and the Conqueror, strong
of hand, representatives of much, trod the Derestrete along
the banks of the Leader, past Channelkirk Church, and
across the dreary hill of Soutra, one to remain in Dun-
fermline leavening her adopted country with her faith
and pious life, the other to return to pursue in England
his relentless, merciless policy, and at last, in Normandy,
find none at his death who loved him sufficiently to lift
his naked and despised corpse from the floor. § But,
however a pleasant fancy may speculate on such possi-
bilities, true it is that the Anglo-Norman influx from
England exerted a considerable sway over the future of

* Saxon Chronicle and Celtic Scotland, vol. i., p. 429. f Celtic Scotland,vo\. i., p. 429 n.
■^ Saxon Chronicle. § Green's History of the English People.

INTRODUCTION 33

Channelkirk Church and Parish. For in the floodtide of
that exodus came Hugh de Morville, who was found
worthy to possess most of Lauderdale, and also the high
favour and confidence of King David the First, and under
him to control the great office of Constable of Scotland.
The country proper of the Scotch at this time terminated
with the Firth of the Forth, but under David, who was
Earl of Lothian as well, something like unity of policy
both in Church and State prevailed over nearly all the
territory which we now call Scotland, though consolidation
and permanence were not given to its frontiers till 1266,
when the various provinces comprising the realm were
finally welded into one compact whole by the cession of
the Isles. The central authority of the kingdom was
therefore shifted in King David's reign from beyond the
Forth southwards into the Lothians, and through the
premier influence of the Lord of Lauderdale, the power of
the throne over all the nation was for the first time
directed from the banks of the Leader.

There was more than mere contingency in this.
The Lothian men seemed to have preserved a consistent
form of laws and customs through every change, religious
or racial, and " Lothian law became eventually the basis
of Scotch law."* "The feudalism introduced by David
and his successors, though Anglo-Norman, was very
much based upon the Anglo-Saxon, or what was
much the same, the Lothian laws and customs."f And
thus there was a higher reason than the possession of
military force why tested and settled government should
emanate from Central Lothian. It stood in the foi^efront
of civilisation.

* Robertson's Scotland under the Early Kings, vol. i., p. 96 n. f Ibid., vol. i., p. I02.

34 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

The boundaries of Channelkirk Parish received recognis-
able definition and outHne about this time. It is well known
that the boundaries of a great lord's estate, as a rule, came to
mark out the limits of a priest's jurisdiction, and it was all
the more natural that so it should be when the lord of the
manor had himself probably built the church, and personally
endowed it out of the revenues of his land. As Channelkirk
Church was in existence before De Morville's advent into
Lauderdale, its advowson and possessions through King
David passed under his hand and patronage, and as there
is no sufficient evidence that there was in his day any other
church in Lauderdale with prior rights to the jurisdiction
implied in his being patron, there is every likelihood that
nominally, at least, if not practically, the boundaries of this
parish were identical with De Morville's Lauderdale posses-
sions. This condition of affairs continued in all likelihood
till the death of the magnanimous Hugo ; but another tone
and temper prevailed throughout the dale, and far beyond it,
when his son Richard de Morville wielded the power of his
father's office. At that time the parish marches are almost
as clearly visible as they are to-day, though resistance and
fierce protests appear latent in the background. But with the
victories of Robert the Bruce in the fourteenth century, and
the overthrow of what may be called the De Morville dynasty
in Lauderdale, all further disturbing influences ceased, and
with its departure old feuds and time-embittered quarrels
vanished also.

Having thus cursorily sketched the outlines of the valley
in pre-historic times, the various peoples who have succes-
sively followed each other across its narrow confines, and
the establishment of the Christian Church in it with St
Cuthbert's coming to Upper Lauderdale, it may suffice to

INTRODUCTION .'35 \

point out briefly the chief territorial influences which hvh
swayed its destinies since the days of the pious King David.

The house of De Morville under that " Sair Sanct " sus-
tained an authority in the nation which was almost regal
in strength, if not in name, during the early decades of the
twelfth century. The battle of Bannockburn, in 13 14, placed
the House of Douglas in the ascendant under King Robert
the First ; for the deposition of the lords of Galloway, who
inherited the De Morville patrimony, added at that time
to the Douglas the honour, among many others, of being
" Lord of Lauderdale." The fifteenth century, however, saw
the Douglas House fall in turn from royal favour, and from
that time the Maitland House steadily increased till with
John, Duke of Lauderdale, the name of Lauderdale once
more stood in the seventeenth century on the loftiest national
eminence possible to either locality or subject. Thrice,
therefore, within the era of written history, has the trend of
the national destinies received bias and direction, if not
positive creation, from those whom Lauderdale acknowledged
as her manorial kings. These three names, De Morville,
Douglas, and Maitland, are three piers in a bridge, which
carries our historical wanderings in this valley across a vista
of years that stretches from the close of the eleventh century
down to the present day.

CHAPTER I

THE NAME

" Channelkirk " — Theories Regarding the Origin and Derivation of the
Name — Its Form at Various Dates — Chalmers' View — The Irish
Zz/^ of St Cuthbert — Cuthbert in Channelkirk — The Church Raised
in Honour of the "Childe" Cuthbert — Dryburgh Abbey Charters
and the Dedication — Bishop De Bernham — -The Priest Godfrey —
Hugh de Morville as Patron — The Name and the Reformation —
Its Local Forms.

The name " Channelkirk " appears to have come into general
use in the district about the beginning of the eighteenth
century. We first find it in the Presbytery Records under
the year 17 16. Glancing at it briefly, one might reasonably
assume that its meaning should offer no serious difficulty to
any person who possessed an ordinary acquaintance with
customary Scotch terms. Yet there have been so many
conflicting opinions set forth as to its origin and derivation
that we are under considerable necessity to discuss the
matter here at some length.

The Rev. Mr Johnston gives the following account:*
" Channelkirk (Lauder) old, Childeschirche, sacred to St
Cuthbert, french. O.K., cild, a child, especially of gentle
birth, but the present name means 'church of the river'
Leader, common former meaning of channel — O.Fr.
chanel, L. canalis, canal." It is not clear what is meant by

* Place-Names of Scotland. D. Douglas, Edinburgh, 1892.

THE NAME 37

" french." But neither channel nor canal means river.
" Artificially cut course " seems to answer better. The Leader,
however, is as devious and unartificial as it can possibly be.

The writers of the Old and New Statistical Accounts of
the Parish preferred the "gravel" meaning of the word.
The Rev. James Rutherford, minister of the parish, writing
in June 1834, makes the following statement: "The ancient
name of the parish was Childer-Kirk, i.e. Children's Kirk,
having been dedicated to the Innocents. More recently its
name was Gingle-Kirk."

" It is so written in our old parochial records, and it is
still commonly so pronounced. Its etymology is uncertain ;
probably it may have had a reference to the nature of the
soil, which is chiefly of a gravelly sort." *

This derivation, set forth with native caution, appears
to have been directly inspired by the Old Statistical Account,
so honourably associated with the name of Sir John Sinclair.
The Rev. Thomas Murray, minister, Channelkirk, and who
wrote the account of this parish for that work in I794,t says :
" The present name of the parish is evidently modern, and
is happily descriptive of the nature of the soil which is, in
general, a light thin earth on a deep bed of sandy gravel.
In our records, which are preserved as far back as 1650,
the name of the parish is spelled Chingelkirk. Chingle, I
presume, is the old Scotch word synonymous to the modern
term channel.''

So far, the meaning of the present name is traced to the
river Leader, which takes its rise in the parish, and to the
general character of the soil within its bounds. The old
name " Childeschirche," " Childer-kirk," is by Mr Johnston

* New Statistical Account of Scotlatid, p. 88, " Berwickshire."
t Old Statistical Account of Scotland, " Channelkirk."

38 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

referred to a " child " of some unknown name, and by Mr
Rutherford to the Holy Innocents from whom it derives the
force of Cliildren's Kirk. Mr Johnston is, we believe, original
in his view, but Mr Rutherford draws his arrow from the
quiver of another archer, viz., the Rev. Dr Ford, minister of
Lauder. He acknowledges this indebtedness. But he says,
" As the doctor gives no authority in support of this opinion,
and as I find no such thing mentioned in Spottiswoode's
Appendix to Hope's Minor Prackticks, I am disposed to
consider it a mere conjecture, and am of opinion that the
obvious etymology first mentioned is the best." Mr Ruther-
ford is not to be tempted on to " trap-doors." Holy Inno-
cents, forsooth ! He finds the Scotch " sand " and " gravel "
solid enough. Dr Hew Scott in his Fasti Ecclesian(Z Scoticance*
was less timorous, and without giving any authority, boldly
sustained the " Innocent " etymology. Dr James Gammack
in his Itinerary of Bishop de Bernham, founded upon Scott,
and Canon Wordsworth, Glaston (now of Tyneham), followed
in his Introduction to De Bernham's Pontifical.^ Dr Gammack,
however, has since withdrawn his view regarding the " Inno-
cents." Mr Johnston, quoted above, is also now of opinion
that " there can be little doubt that the forms ' Childes-' and
' Childer-Kirk ' represent two distinct traditions."

The legend on the kirk bell runs : " For Channonkirk,
1702." " Ginglekirk " and " Jinglekirk," are, it is true, often
met with throughout the kirk records, being perhaps the
nearest phonetic spelling of the name which has been most
familiar to the ears of the people in the district for several
centuries. " Chinelkirk " occurs frequently in the records of
Earlston Presbytery from 1696 onwards. It is a mistake to say,
however, that in the earliest kirk record of 1650, the name is

* Vol. I., part ii., p. 521. f Edinburgh Pitsligo Press, 1885.

THE NAME 39

" Chingelkirk." The name there is " Chinghilkirk," or
" Chinghelkirk," for the second " i " is not dotted, and may be
meant for an "e." As we ascend the stream of historical
narrative, we reach the form " Cheinilkirk " about 1634 : about
1630, " Chingelkirk " : 1620, " Chingilkirk " : (Font's map, c.
1608, has " Gingle Kirk"). In 1586-7, it is distorted once to
the rather curious form " Chingclek." In 1580, it is " Cheingill
Kyrk." In 1567, seven years after the Reformation, it is
" Chynkilkirk," alongside of the commoner form " Chingilkirk."
In 1560, the year of the Reformation, the name appears for
the first time, in our backward journey, with a "^" in it. It
is " Cheindilkirk," or " Chenidilkirk," and in 1535, " Chyndyl-
kirk." It is evident that in the forms of " Chynkilkirk " of
1 567, and " Cheindelkirk " of 1 560, we have some evidence
of the changes which were then being carried forward
throughout the whole country. When names are so tossed
about, there must be storms at work. We find, as a matter
of fact, that the former was the name familiar to the people,
and the latter the designation which was known to the
Church. The one with which the monks were intimate, and
which is found in the charters of Dryburgh Abbey more than
forty times, is that of Childinchirch, Childenchirch, Chyldin-
chirch, Childenechirche, or some similarly analogous form
of the same construction. These charters which mention
Channelkirk Church, range between 1153-1318. About 1268,
till 1 3 18, " Childenkirk " is sometimes put as an "alias" of
" Childinchirch," and this seems to point to the conflict which
had already begun between the ecclesiastical and popular
forms.

When we leave these charters we find our light growing
dimmer, and our etymological Bridge of Mirza becomes
shrouded in mist. But we do not lose heart though we lose

40 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

light. Truth is greater than either, and her very home is
in mystery. Besides, it appears that there are footprints
further on. That bold pioneer, George Chalmers, has passed
this way, and it is here, perhaps, that we may most fittingly
introduce his singular derivation. If it turn out to be a mere
spectre of the Brocken, it may not prove satisfactory, but it •
cannot fail to be interesting and impressive, and it is just
possible that Chalmers did not aim at higher results. But
he evidently felt that the " sand " and " gravel " theory was
impossible. And, indeed, from the present day back to
1 560, it is perfectly clear that there is no rational element in
the whole forest of "Gingles," "Jingles," and "Shingles,"
distinctive enough to warrant any sane person in building
an intelligent meaning upon it. Chalmers instinctively per-
ceived that if any meaning were possible, it must be found
not on this, but on the other side of the Reformation. And
having once resolved to traverse the centuries, he soon ac-
complishes the task. Like the prince in the Arabian Nights,
he but mounts his steed, turns the peg at its ear, and soon
the periods of the Crusades, Norman Invasions, Danish In-
vasions, Saxon Invasions, in short. Middle Ages, Dark Ages,
and similar spaces, are all left behind him ! He alights in the
second century, we may say, and seeks an explanation from
the people called Otadeni, who occupied our Berwickshire
district at that time, believing that a church might have
existed at Channelkirk " before the epoch of record." He
states his view in the following way : " The name of the
parish of Channelkirk is obscure. In the charters of the
twelfth and thirteenth centuries, the word is written Chyldin-
chirche and Childincirch ; which evince that Channelkirk is a
mere modern corruption. The affix to the original term is
obviously the Saxon circ, cyrc, cyric, the Old English kirk, the

THE NAME 41

Anglo-Norman church. It is more than probable that the
original name of the place, which is significantly marked by
the site of the Roman camp, was Childin, which may have
been left here by the Romanised Ottadini, with other names
that still remain, as we have seen, in their British form. And,
of course, the Cambro-British word is plainly cil-din, signifying
the retreat, or chapel, or church, at the fort."

It must be confessed that his theory is ingenious, and we
feel at once the angelic strength of wing, but like the other
derivations given above, it is fatally discredited through lack
of sufficient authority. " It is more than probable," he says,
but it is still conjectural. The Anglo-Saxon forms are not, it
appears, circ^ cyrc^ cyric, as he affirms, but cirice, cyrice, circe,
cyrce^ the final " e " being necessary to get the " ch." We are
convinced that Chalmers has shown us a spectre among the
mists. Still, one parts reluctantly from him. He is our last
hope.

Hitherto, the solution of the meaning has been prosecuted
in the regions of the topographical, the etymological, and the
military. Why should we not try the ecclesiastical? A
place-name so churchy as Channelkirk seems traceable to
such a source. Is there any strongly persistent fact, historical
or traditional, or both combined, set down in the centuries
preceding those of the Dryburgh Charters, where we last
leave written testimony, which might justly be esteemed
powerful enough to create a place-name of the " Childen-
Chirch " complexion ? May not the sufficiently proved
historical connection of St Cuthbert with the Lammermoors,
on which Channelkirk is built, lie at the foundation of the
difficulty ? The labyrinths, however puzzling, had a veritable
entrance and exit, and where we have lost ourselves by so
many paths, we can but attempt another in search of liberty.

42 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

The merest thread, contemptible for strength in all other
circumstances, may save us in this one.

We turn, then, to a MS., which, says Dr James Raine, is in
a fourteenth century hand,* and may have been first written
towards the close of the twelfth century. In his Life of St
Cuthbert, Canon Fowler says {Surtees Society, No. 87, II.,
pref. vi., New Edition, 1889), "It is possible there may be
some germ of historic truth at the bottom of the Irish story."
He also thinks it " probable " that this Irish Life was
"written towards the close of the twelfth century," though
the " older forms " of the name " Childenechirche," he quotes
as only "c. 1295" (note 2, 5). If this Irish Life is reliable,
it certainly puts the whole matter in quite a different
setting, and seems to yield more satisfactory results, on
the whole, than anything which has been propounded by
the writers already noticed. The MS. is, of course, assailed
by many critics as unworthy of belief It is stuffed with the
miraculous, the mystical, and the anachronistic. It is needless
to say that nearly every manuscript of a similar kind is
characterised by the same blemishes, those of Bede himself,
who is more than a Delphic oracle to us, not being exempted.
The MS. is entitled Libelhis de Ortu Sancti Cuthberti, and is
the only life of that Saint which professes to give a narrative
of his birth and early boyhood. We can but take what it has
to give us, and accept or reject it as we choose, adopting with
regard to it, it may be, the ground occupied by modern
critics of the Scriptures, who aver that although all of the
statements in them are not true, yet that truth is to be found
in these statements ! All other " Lives " of St Cuthbert, as is
well-known, begin with the period of his youth. The most
important of these are Bede's and the one written by the
* Surtees Society, 1838.

THE NAME 43

nameless monk of probably Lindisfarne or Melrose * whom,

perhaps, Bede has in view when he says, " What I have written

concerning our most holy father. Bishop Cuthbert, either in

this volume, or in my treatise on his life and actions, I partly

took, and faithfully copied from what I found written of

him by the brethren of the Church of Lindisfarne." f Both

Bede and the anonymous monk were contemporaries of St

Cuthbert. The latter connects him with our locality. He

depicts him- as a young shepherd watching over his master's

flocks, along with other shepherds, near the river Leder, in

the vicinity of the hills among which it takes its rise {quando

in viontanis juxta fluvmvi, quoad dicitur Leder, cum aliis

pastoribus pecos a domini sui pascebat). " These mountains,"

says Dr W. F. Skene, " were the southern slope of the

Lammermoors, which surround the upper part of the vale

of the Leader, in Berwickshire," J that is to say, the parish

of Channelkirk. This fact of locality seems an irreducible

one, and it is all-important to us in the present pursuit. It

is supported by Green, Chalmers, and others.§ We seem,

then, justified in standing firmly on this historical fact,

firmly fixed in the seventh century, viz., that Cuthbert, the

future apostle of the South of Scotland, herded his master's

flocks when a young man, on the banks of the Leader Water,

near the Lammermoor Hills. Green, indeed, has grasped

this local connection of ours with St Cuthbert, so tenaciously,

that he afifirms he was born here ! But this is a more

palpable spectre than that of Chalmers. There is indirect

testimony to Cuthbert's acquaintance with Channelkirk

district in the account Bede gives of him after he became

* Vita Anon. St Cuth. : Acta Sanctorum, 20th March.

t Ecclesiastical History, pref. trans, by Giles.

% Celtic Scotland, vol. ii., p. 201.

§ Short History of the English People. Caledonia.

44 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

Prior of Melrose Monastery. Cuthbert, he informs us, sallied
out among the people of his neighbourhood, and preached to
them, not returning for a week, or sometimes two or three,
and sometimes a whole month, "continuing among the
mountains to allure that rustic people by his preaching and
example to heavenly employments." * As Melrose is near
the mouth of the Leader, and as the " villages " which were
"seated high up among craggy, uncouth mountains," and
visited by him in his missionary journeys, are descriptive
only of villages such as Channelkirk was in bygone days, it
is reasonably certain that Bede had our district in his mind
when penning his narrative. No other locality in the neigh-
bourhood ;of Melrose Monastery will fit the description.

Having now, as we presume to think, established the
presence of Cuthbert in or near Channelkirk in the seventh
century, first as shepherd and then as preacher, we proceed
to other essentials which are called for in creating a place-
name, evoked, according to our as yet latent supposition, by
ecclesiastical circumstances, and possibly, by the presence
there of the saint himself One of these appears to be the
high renown which Cuthbert everywhere spread regarding
his holy life. His miracles, his virtuous acts, his episcopal
dignity, his apostolic example, his austerity, his eloquence as
a preacher, his diligence in doing good, his humility, his
devout prayers, his tears, and crucifixion of all pleasures,
roused an enthusiasm for him that none but the greatest
have called forth. All this rendered probable what we now
place with much diffidence before the reader.

The MS. noticed above, "taken and translated from the
Irish," *!* has the following passage : — Hoc primum miraculum
in terra ista de puero illo innotuit, quo Spiritus Sanctus
* Ecclesiastical History, c. 27. t Cap. 23.

THE NAME 45

ipsum sibi vas futurum gloriae praesignavit. Locus ipse
etiam adhuc incoHs notissimus habetur, in quo nunc ob
illius honorem ecclesia Domino consecratur ; quique a
puerorum coUudentium agmine, usque in hodiernum diem
Childeschirche vocatur praeagnomine, illi dans honoris aeterni
testimonium qui in aeternitate vivit in secula seculorum.

The passage refers to an incident in Cuthbert's boyhood.
After saying that he had been brought from Ireland by his
mother to his uncles, who were bishops in Lothian, and that
they had placed him under the care of a pious man there,
the Life relates a miracle which, unconsciously, the boy
Cuthbert performed among his playmates. Then follows the
above statement, which may be translated into these words :
" This became known in that district as the first miracle of
the remarkable boy, by which the Holy Spirit marked him
beforehand as about to be a vessel of glory to Himself. The
place itself is even still held by the inhabitants as of the
greatest note, in which a church to his honour is now conse-
crated to God ; and which even at this day, by bands of boys
at play, is by preference called by the name Childeschirche,
giving the testimony of eternal honour to him who lives in
eternity, for ever and ever."

An old chronicler of the fifteenth century, who ap-
parently rhymes on the lines of this narrative, says*: —

" This was the first meruayle ane,
Of him was knawen in louthiane
The whilk schewed takenying that he
Aftir haly man suld be.
That place is knawen in all scottland.
For nowe a kirk thar on stand,
Childe Kirk is called commonly,
Of men that er wonand thar by ;

* Surtees Society, No. 38, edited by Dr Jas. Raine. Also Surtees
Society, No. 87, 1889, p. 27 ; Canon Fowler.

46 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

Of cuthbert childe name it toke,
In goddis wirschip, thus saies the boke,
And in his name to rede and syng ;
To him be wirschip and louyng."

Dr James Raine has a note against the name " Childe
kirk," identifying it as the ancient Church of Channelkirk,
and the identity appears to be admitted by all competent
judges. The same authority says that the two anonymous
compilations just quoted are those " in which genuine history
and minute intimations of early customs and modes of living
are mixed with fabulous details." He tells us that the Irish
Life, however much it may be distrusted as reliable history,
yet " as a regular piece of biography, written in a good style,
and not deficient in incidental information upon subjects con-
nected with the period in which it was written," " it comes
within the plans of this Surtees Society," and these considera-
tions have led to its publication." He also shows " that the
monks of Durham had some belief in the Irish descent of
Cuthbert, and in other circumstances in his history detailed in
this piece of biography," and proves it by the account he
quotes of windows in the Durham Cathedral having been
glassed with scenes drawn from it, and which were destroyed
by Dean Horn in the reign of Edward VL, " for he could
never abide any ancient monuments that gave any light of
or to godly religion." Canon Fowler points out that "the
St Cuthbert window at York Minster still contains many
subjects from this Life."*

It is, of course, always made a matter of surprise that
Bede should never allude to Cuthbert's birth. We know
from himself that on submitting his manuscript to the
priests " who from having long dwelt with the man of God,
were thoroughly acquainted with his life," they corrected or
* Surtees Society, No. 87, pref. vi.

THE NAME 47

expunged " what they judged advisable!' And the suggestions
constantly recurring from this class of circumstances inevi-
tably bias us towards the suspicion that the history of his
birth was not such as to recommend itself to those who knew
the illustrious facts of his maturer years. If Cuthbert was
illegitimate (as is asserted by Capgrave * and others, this Irish
Life being among them), this may account for much that has
been buried in silence by his religious contemporaries, and
may also explain why the driblets of information regarding
his young days and birthplace, have percolated down to us
through such dubious channels. The belief in the Old Testa-
ment flawlessness of God's priests was a power in those days,
and this may lie at the root of the historical shame and conceal-
ment which swept the pages, to all appearance, of the vener-
able Monk of Jarrow. " The truth may possibly be," says
Dr Skene, " that he was the son of an Irish Kinglet by an
Anglic mother ; and this would account for her coming to
Britain with the boy, and his being placed under a master in
the vale of the Leader."-|- Nothing is more astounding to us
than that Bede should know so much concerning Cuthbert as
that " from his VERY CHILDHOOD he had always been inflamed
with the desire of a religious life," \ and yet have nothing
more to say of that period of Cuthbert's existence, we may be
sure that every incident in Cuthbert's life had been probed and
discussed by the Monks of Bede's time. His childhood seems
to have been as well known to them as his manhood, and its
character as distinctly defined. Why do the coceviis monachus,
and Bede, then, hang a veil over that time, the latter not
even venturing upon one fact to sustain his statement ? The
reason seems patent, though it need not be restated. They

* Annals of the Four Masters, edited by Dr Jo. O'Donovan, 1856.

t Celtic Scotland, vol. ii., p. 206. % Ecclesiastical History, chap, xxvii.

48 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

loved and revered Cuthbert ; his dust was holy to them ; an
inviolable sanctity must not be dimmed or sullied by shadows
of the past. And thus the waves of oblivion were permitted
to lap within their bosom what the pen of the chronicler may
have written, but which the hand of the churchman had no
desire to rescue from forgetfulness. This accounts also, no
doubt, for the blurred and almost wholly obliterated record
which points to Cuthbert's connection with Channelkirk.

That the church at Channelkirk was originally founded in
honour of the child, or youth, who afterwards became the
Saint called Cuthbert, as asserted by the Irish Life and the
fifteenth century chronicler whose lines have been quoted,
receives certain indirect corroboration from other sources.
The supposed dedication to the " Holy Innocents " withers
before the testimony of the Dryburgh Charters which declare
Channelkirk Church to have been dedicated to St Cuthbert.
In Charter No. 185 (c. 1327) we have the following*: —

Universis Sancte Matris, etc. Thomas Clericus filius
Willelmi de Collielaw Salutem in Domino. Noverit univer-
sitas vestra me divine caritatis intuitu et pro salute anime
mee et pro salute animarum omnium antecessorum et suc-
cessorum mearum dedisse concessisse et hac mea carta con-
fir masse Deo et ecclesie Sancti Cuthberti de ChildenchircJi et
canonicis de Dryburgh octo acras terre. . .

By this instrument, Thomas, son of William of Collielaw,
in this parish, devotes, like a loyal son of Holy Mother
Church, eight acres of land to the Church of St Cuthbert at
Channelkirk, a bounty which necessarily was received by the
Dryburgh Canons, seeing that Channelkirk had been under
their Abbey since the days of Hugh de Morville, Lord of
Lauderdale.

*■ Liber de Dryburgh.

THE NAME 49

Charter No. 255, dated about 1161 A.D., contains likewise
a papal confirmation of the Church of St Cuthbert at Channel-
kirk (ecclesiam Sancti Cuthberti de Childinchirch) to the
Canons of Dryburgh Abbey.

It is interesting, too, though not perhaps evidentially, to
note that Bishop de Bernham of St Andrews,* when in 1 240-
1249 he consecrated so many churches in his large diocese,
comes straight from consecrating St Cuthbert's Church,
Edinburgh, to fulfil the same function at Channelkirk. St
Cuthbert's, Edinburgh, is consecrated on "XVII Kal. April
1 24 1 -2," and " Childenechirch " on " X Kal. April " of the same
year, or on the i6th and 23rd of March respectively. We
also observe that the day of consecration was as near St
Cuthbert's day, the 20th of March, as the nature of the
circumstances might reasonably be supposed to permit,
considering the season of the year, and the formid-
able nature of the journey. The editor of De Bernham's
Pontifical also points out as remarkable that not even one
of the churches was dedicated on the festival of the saint
whose name is commemorated in its title, and seventy of
the one hundred and forty churches which the bishop then
consecrated, have been identified.

Moreover, there is every indication that the church at
Channelkirk existed before the time that rises above the
horizon with historical writings. The year 1153 A.D. is, no
doubt, the earliest possible date of Dryburgh Charters, in the
first of which our church is specially dealt with. But it is
there seen to be at that time a settled church with its own
lands lying around it, and a regular priest, Godfrey, minister-
ing at its altar. Its situation, also, is matter of general sur-
prise, being perched 945 feet above sea level, in the remotest

* Pontificalc (supra).

50 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

corner of Lauderdale, on heights so steep and inaccessible
as to daunt the most zealous worshippers. Only some im-
portant event in by-past centuries could satisfy the interro-
gations which all these circumstances arouse, and, when it
was, moreover, " the mother and parish church of the whole
valley " * while a more wealthy and powerful church under the
De Morville family existed in 1 170 in the rich and populous
centre of the dale, we are not surprised that the vision of St
Cuthbert which led him to become a monk in Mailros should
be localised on the spot where the church now stands, or that
both tradition and chronicles should trace its existence and
name to the life of that seventh century apostle.

From a consideration of all these facts and circumstances
connected with it, we are disposed to believe that the Church
of Channelkirk derives its designation from the youth
Cuthbert, afterwards St Cuthbert, and probably came into
existence between the seventh and ninth centuries. Regard-
ing the investigation into the etymology of the name, ety-
mologists alone have a right to speak. We wholly disclaim
any ability in that sphere. We only venture to suggest in the
interests of a satisfactory and reasonable solution to this
inquiry that the form Childeschirche^ as our fifteenth century
rhyrher and the Irish Life assert, was the original one.
Through forms which are now lost to us, among which
Childer-chirche was probably to be reckoned, this became in
the charters of the monks Childenchirch. This form, with
variants of " i " and " e," " chirch " and " kirk," would persist
in writings so long as ecclesiastical documents afforded a
constant model to copy from. But as soon as Reformation
troubles compelled the monks to fly, these documentary
guides fled with them, and our Protestant friends were driven
* Liber de Dry burgh.

THE NAME 51

to adopt the phonetic spelling of the name which was con-
stantly on the lips of the people of Lauderdale. There would
be many local variants of it, as there are yet to this day.
Our present name seems to have come directly from the
change of Childen into Cheindil, which appears to have been
simply the result of metathesis or the common transposition
of consonants in articulation. But when Childench\rch. had
become by metathesis Cheindtlch.\rc\\, or Cheindilkirk, the
hatred of the tongue for the dental produced still further
changes. Cheindil became Cheinil, as handle becomes han'le,
candle, cawn'le, kindle^ kin'le, and so on ; after which Chinel
and Channel are easy transitions. A corroborative example
of the same process seems given us in the place-name Annels-
hope in Selkirkshire. In 1455 it is Aldanhop ; in 1644 it
becomes by transposition Andleshope. The obnoxious " d " is
then thrust out, and it is now Annelshope.

Before the year 1560, the year of the Reformation, such
forms of the name as " Chingilkirk," " Schingilkirk," " Gingle-
kirk," etc., etc., are never found, and are purely the spawn of
the provincial dialect.

C H A P 1^ E R I I

THE CHARTERS

The first Charter in the Liber de Drybiirgh — The De Morville Family —
The Patron Saint of Channelkirk — Godfrey the Priest and Hugo de
Morville — Extent of De Morville's Estate in Lauderdale — Kirk Lands
near Pilmuir — Lauderdale in the Thirteenth Century — Its Devout
Men and their Gifts to Channelkirk Church — Gifts " In Perpetuam"
— An Era of Bequests to Holy Mother Church — Supposed Atonement
for National Sin — Thomas of Collielaw — Ancient Agricultural Life —
The Domus de Soltre and Channelkirk Church — Fulewithnes —
Glengelt Chapel — The Veteriponts — Carfrae Chapel — The Sinclairs —
Premonstratensian Order — Dedication of Channelkirk Church, A.D.
1241 — Then and Now.

Viewing history through the agency of Charters gives one an
impression similar to that experienced when contemplating
Nature as set forth in a picture gallery. Facts and forms,
truth and beauty, reveal themselves so far within the clear-
cut spaces given them ; but all around these margins are
wood and wall, darkness and silence, and we pass from space
to space with a weird sense of skimming over chasms, or
graves, across which we slip some tentative speculation or
guess, that seems to supply sufficiently the lack of actual
historical sequence of time and occurrence. Vision is con-
stantly under arrestment, and all the voices reach our ears
through legal telephones. Men and motions appear to exist
in an atmosphere of enamel, each attitude struck stiff and un-
changeable as if by enchantment, leaving us often perplexed

THE CHARTERS 53

•

to know what motive, what principle or passion, had called it
into being. In the absence, however, of steady daylight and
open landscapes, these charter-flashes through the darkness
upon the facts and faces of the past are very acceptable, and
we are grateful to the good monks for sending them forth
over the dark centuries from their religious lighthouses.

The Register of Dryburgh Abbey, or Liber S. Marie de
DryburgJi, opens with a charter dealing with the church of
Channelkirk. Although marked " No. 6," it is the earliest one
extant, as the preceding five have not been found. The title
of the charter runs : " The Confirmation regarding the afore-
said donations of Hugo and Robert de Morville concerning
the churches of Childinchirch and Saltone." The writ itself
proceeds : —

" Malcolm, King of the Scots, to the bishops, abbots, earls,
barons, justiciaries, sheriffs, bailies, servants, and all true men
of all the land, whether cleric or laic, Franks or Angles, health.
Be it known to the present and future generations that I have
conceded, and by this, my charter, confirmed to God and the
Church of St Mary at Dryburgh, and the canons serving God
there, the bequests of Hugo de Morville and Robert de
Morville, which they, in free and perpetual charity, gave to the
same church, and confirmed by their charters, viz., the
Church of Childenchirch, with the land adjacent, and all that
justly pertains to it."

In this quotation, and in others to follow, we give only
those items in the documents which bear upon Channelkirk,
This one is from the hand of Malcolm IV., grandson to David
I., and consequently must have been granted between 1153-
1 165 A.D., the period of his reign.

Hugh de Morville was the friend and favourite of King
David I., and rose to the highest office in the State. Much is

54 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

dim and uncertain in his career, but he appears to have come
originally from the north of England. He received, besides
his possessions in England, extensive estates in Scotland.
He held all Lauderdale down to near Earlston, where the
Earl of Dunbar's land came between the northern portion
and his other lands in Dryburgh, Merton, Bemersyde, and
Newton. Between 1108-24,* he witnesses the gift of lands
to Roger, the Archdeacon, and his heir; in 11 16, the
Inquisition of David, and in 1 1 19-24, the charter of the
foundation of Selkirk Abbey. He is called in Chronica de
Mailros, the founder of the church of Dryburgh.-j* He was
Constable of Scotland before 1 140,+ and died, according to
the Chronica de Mailros, in 1162. If the latter statement is
correct, it must have been another Hugh de Morville§ who
was implicated in 11 70 in the murder of Thomas a Becket,
Archbishop of Canterbury, and was afterwards Justiciary of
Northumberland.il

In the Calendar of Documents we ascertain that he
accounts, in 1194-95, for ;^I00 of his fine, made with the
king for holding the forestry of Carlisle. Probably, the
"Hugh de Morville" found after 1162 was a younger man,
related to the Hugh of Lauderdale, and less pious, perhaps,
in his character.

The office of Constable of Scotland became hereditary
in the De Morville family,*; and after Hugo it was held
successively by his son, Richard ; William de Morville ;

*Vol. i. Calendar of Documents relating to Scotland.

t See also Liber de Dryburgh, No. 14. + Newbattle Charters.

§ Hoveden's Chronicle, vol. ii., p. 14.

II See Froude's Short Studies, vol. iv. ; also The Itinerary of Henry
II., by Rev. R. W. Eyton, who includes the years 1158-70 in Hugh de
Morville's life.

IT Caledonia, vol. i., p. 707.

THE CHARTERS 55

Roland, Lord Galloway (d. 1200); Allan, his son (d. 1234);
Roger de Quinsi ; Alexander Cumyn, and John Cumyn, and
others.

Before his death he gifted Channelkirk Church to Dry-
burgh Abbey, and himself donned the monk's habit at the
same time.*

The name " Robert " de Morville in the charter just
quoted, is, perhaps, intended for " Richard," who succeeded
his father Hugo. Richard was a man of more warlike
manner than his father, and was embroiled in many disputes
with the religious houses. He commanded part of the
Scottish army at the battle of Falaise in ii74,"h and was one
of the hostages given to the King of England. He was
excommunicated by John Scott, Bishop of St Andrews, as
a disturber of the peace between the king and him.self l He
died in 1189.

The charter which next in chronological order makes
reference to Channelkirk is No, 255, and is entitled "Con-
cerning the Church of Childinchirch and the tenths of the
Mills of Lauder and Salton, and two bovates of land in
Smailholm," It is dated c. 1161, and is granted by Pope
Alexander HI., who occupied the papal chair, 1 159-81. It
bears that Roger, Abbot of Dryburgh, and his brethren, had
petitioned the Pope to confirm Hugh de Morville's gift of
Channelkirk Church to them, the consent of the ecclesiastical
king being as necessary as that of the King of Scotland.

" Alexander, Bishop, servant of the servants of God, to
his beloved sons Roger, the Abbot, and the Brethren of the
Church of St Mary at Dryburgh, health and Apostolic
benediction. It is right that we give a ready assent to the
just desires of your petitions, and your wishes, which are
* Lt'der de Dryburgh, No. 8. t Hoveden's Chronicle. % Ibid.

56 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

agreeable to right reason are to be complied with in the
following way. Wherefore, beloved sons in the Lord, com-
plying with your just demands by a cordial consent, wc
confirm the Church of St Cuthbert at Channelkirk, the tenth
of the mills of Lauder and Salton, and the two bovates of
land in Smailholm, from the gift of David Olifard, for your
devotion, and through you to your church by Apostolic
authority."

This charter and Charter No. 185 are valuable in that they
decide who was the patron saint of Channelkirk Church.
Hew Scott in his Fasti says that " it was dedicated to the
Holy Innocents." He gives no authority, and it may be
that the name " Childermas " seemed to him to be connected
with " Childinchirch," and so to have suggested the above.
The mistake would have been rectified long ago, doubtless,
if Professor Cosmo Innes's Origines Parochiales had embraced
the Lauderdale district in its scope, a hint of which is given
in his preface (p. xxiii), when he says, " Affectionate memorials
of St Cuthbert are still found at Melrose, Channelkirk, and
Maxton."

Malcolm the Maiden, died 1165, and was succeeded by
his brother William, the Lyon King, who was crowned at
Scone on Christmas eve of the same year. In such troublous
times, when kings and kingdoms were so often placed in
hazard, it seems to have been necessary, in order to preserve
the clear right of possession, that each succeeding king
should grant confirmation of Church bequests bestowed in
former reigns. We find, therefore, that Malcolm, William,
and Alexander, confirm in succession the church of Channel-
kirk to God and the Church of Saint Mary at Dryburgh.
About the year 1165, when he ascended the throne, William,
the Lyon gives a general confirmatory charter to Dryburgh

THE CHARTERS

Abbey, and one item "from the gift of Hugo de Monnlle"
is the " Church of Childinchirch " (Xa 241).

Richard de Mor\-ille of Lauderdale, succeeding his
father Hugo in the office of Constable of Scotland in, it is
said, 1 165, and djnng in 11 89, gives, in some year bet^^-een
these dates, the following confirmator>' charter (No. 8) : —

" Richard de Morville, constable of the King of Scots,
to all his adherents and true men, wishes health. Be it
known to the present and future generations that I have
given and by this my charter confirmed to God and the
Church of the Blessed Mar}- at Drj-burgh, and to the Brethren
ser\ing God in that place, in perpetual charitj-, the Church
of Salton with full carucates of land, and all pertaining to
the same church after the decease of Robert the Cleric

" Besides, I concede, I confirm to the same church the
gifts of my father which with himself he gave to the same
Brethren, N-iz., the church of Childinchirch, with all pertaining
to it with which Godfrid the priest held it in the day in
which my father assumed the canonical dress."

This concession and confirmation contains interesting
items. I. The name of the priest who officiated in Channel-
kirk at the time Hugo de Morxille bequeathed the church
to DrA'burgh Abbey. 2. The earh- s)-stem of tenure on
which this Godfrid the priest held it " Each church* as it
was settled, was under the charge of its own priest or minister,
and he was amenable only to the lord on whose domain
he had been settled, and b\- whom, in most cases, he had been
endowed. 3, The fact of H. de Mor\'ille having submitted to
a monkish rule of life in Dr}burgh Abbey, a statement we
do not remember to have seen noticed in any work treating
of his history. The priest's name, Godfrew is .Anglic, and
* Ckyrck of Scoflatuty \xA. iv., p. 3.

58 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

points to his having come with the De Morvilles into
Lauderdale, though, of course, this is merely conjectural.

The church of Channelkirk, being under Dryburgh Abbey,
was thereby in the diocese of St Andrews. Malcolm II. in
1018 obtained a victory over Eadulf at the battle of Carham,
and the province of Lothian was ceded to him. This large
province was then added to the diocese of St Andrews, which
previously did not extend south of the Forth, and consequently
the Bishop of St Andrews included Channelkirk among his
churches and possessions. Richard, the bishop, mentioned
below, was chaplain (1163-1177) to Malcolm IV., and was
Primate of Scotland.

Charter 235 (c. 1170), "Confirmation of the Bishop of
St Andrews concerning churches, lands, and possessions.
Richard, by the grace of God, the humble bishop of the Scots
to all (children) of the Holy Mother (Church), eternal
salvation in God .... we confirm the Church of Childin-
chirch, with the land adjacent, and all pertaining to it."

Charter No. 249 concerns general privileges granted by
the Pope in 11 84 to Dryburgh Abbey. While it confirms to
it the Church of Channelkirk in the usual formula, another
matter is introduced which is not uninteresting. Chalmers,
in Caledonia (i. 505, ii. 224), asserts that the De Morvilles
" enjoyed some rich lands on the northern bank of the Tweed,
including Bemersyde, Dryburgh, Mertoun," etc. Russell in
his Haigs of Bemersyde rebuts this, and says with reference
to this statement (p. 55), "What is here alleged cannot be
substantiated" .... "there is nothing in the Dryburgh
Cartulary to support his statement." " There is not the
slightest ground for believing that the De Morvilles ever
possessed a foot of land in the Merse, their lands in Lauder-
dale only coming down to within a few miles of Earlston."

THE CHARTERS 59

Yet in our charter above-noted, we find Pope Lucius III.
confirming to the Abbot, Gerard, and brethren of Dryburgh
" from the gift of Hugh de Morville, the place itself which is
called Dryburgh" and again in Charter 2$\,'' the place itself in
ivJiich the aforesaid monastery is situated!' There is some
confusion of dates in this charter, 1283 being given in the
text, and 11 84 put within brackets. The latter is clearly the
correct date. Pope Martin IV. occupied the papal throne
from 1 281-1285, and Pope Lucius III., who is mentioned in
the text, from 1181-1185.

Pope Celestine III. in 11 96 also confirms the Church of
Channelkirk to Allan, the abbot, and brethren of Dryburgh
(Charter 250).

The charter which seems to follow next in order of time
is very interesting, as showing one of the sources of en-
dowment which was enjoyed by Channelkirk. It is as
follows : " (No. 176) Concerning a toft and croft and land and
meadow in Samsonshiels. To all, etc., Henry, son of Samson
of Logie, health. Be it known to you all that I, with the
consent and assent of my wife and my heir, with the view
of a charter, have given and granted, and by this my present
charter confirmed to God and the Church of St Mary at
Dryburgh, and to the canons who serve God there, and to
my Mother Church at Channelkirk, a toft and croft in the
village of Samsonshiels, namely, a toft of one rood in front
of, and a croft with land contiguous to, the same croft of
three full acres, close to my house from the west, and also
that land, arable as well as meadow, which lies on the west
side between the aforesaid croft at the top, and the boundary
of the burn which is between my land and Pilmuir, that is
to say, beginning on the south side at a certain stone cross
set up on the edge of the same stream, and extending as far

60 , HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

as Derestrete in length northwards. To this, likewise, an
acre which belonged to William, Robert's son, with the
land which lies between the same acre and ditch between
Samsonshiels and Pilmuir in breadth, and from the aforesaid
stone cross as far as the way which leads to Wenneshead in
length, and so by the same road on the east side continually
to the ditch at Pilmuir as far as Bradestrutherburn, and
thence going on towards the north exactly as that stream
formerly ran to the Leader, in free and perpetual charity, etc."
About the same year (1220) it was deemed necessary to
confirm this gift by a new charter (No. 177), probably owing
to the existence then of new heirs and other collateral con-
siderations. In this charter, the land is to be held in per-
petuity without any custom or secular exaction, as fully and
peaceably as it is possible to give or confirm any church, land,
or charity. The reason is also very solemnly stated, and
marks the depth of religious fervour in those days when a
man's faith determined his works. Henry, son of Samson,
gives his croft, and toft, and land, and meadow, " for the
salvation of my lords (the De Morvilles), and for the salvation
of my soul and the souls of my wife and children, and of all
my ancestors and successors, but specially for the soul of my
father Samson and the soul of my mother." There is a beauti-
ful simplicity in this old-time piety. Its faith is deep. The
family is in heaven and on earth ; and death divides it not,
nor can the grave cleave it asunder. Allan, son of Rolland of
Galloway, who was now in possession of the extensive
Lauderdale estates left by the extinct family of the De
Morvilles, confirms these donations to Dryburgh Abbey and
the Mother Church of Channelkirk, and notes that the above
" Samson " had been a monk in Dryburgh. (Charter No.
180.) As a Charter of Kelso Abbey, c. 1206, mentions

THE CHARTERS 61

" Samson's Marches," he had evidently been ah've before this
date. (See " Oxton.")

The places mentioned in these three charters which convey
the gifts of Henry, are for most part now obliterated. Pilmuir
is still flourishing as an arable farm, two miles to the north-
west of Lauder, but Samsonshiels, Wenneshead, Witnesbusk,
Derestrete, and the " certain stone cross " have all vanished,
and left only conjecture to point out their locality. The
" Bradestrotherburne " is still in existence and running towards
the Leader as of yore, we believe, under the name of " Harry
Burn." Who knows but the name of this ancient Henricus
may have had some connection with the change. We may
explain that a Toft meant a house-stance with, perhaps, a
small vegetable garden ; while a Croft was oftener on the
outskirts of the village or " tun," and was the source of meal
to the priest and grazing for his cow.

It is curious to note also, that, though in its locality, the
gift is not given to Lauder Church, but to Channelkirk. The
unpleasant state of matters noticed below perhaps accounted
for this. The granter's father, having been a monk in
Dryburgh, might bias the matter also, for the advantage was
more certain to reach that Abbey by way of Channelkirk than
through Lauder, seeing the latter was .seeking to set up an
independency of both.

. Charters Nos. 185, 186, 191, have no dates assigned to
them, but this in no wise lessens their interest for us, as the
Church of Channelkirk gains by them not only new endow-
ments but also a new ecclesiastical responsibility. Eight acres
of land are settled upon her, and two new domestic chapels
are erected in the parish. Collielaw, Glengelt, and Carfrae,
are the places which are rendered illustrious by these proofs
of piety and self-sacrifice. Perhaps we cannot go very wide

62 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

of the period, which saw these transactions, if we place them
about the middle of the thirteenth century. No. 185 is about
1327 or a little earlier, as we know from other sources.* In
these old records also, at this period, the outlines of Lauder-
dale, as they look to modern eyes, come more and more
clearly into our field of vision. Pilmuir stands before us un-
mistakably : Glengelt at the extreme north of the valley, with
Carfrae on the heights to the east, and Collielaw on the
sloping middle ground to the west, rise upon our view, and
like the same places to-day, lead the eye round the boundaries
of the upper part of the dale, and generally define its length
and breadth. Devout men then dwelt in the land. The
proof they give us of the high esteem in which Channelkirk
Church was held by them, are comparable to the smaller
currents in that tide of charity and full-hearted benevolence
which swept over all the country. The noblest believed
themselves nobler in laying their precious gifts upon the altars
of Holy Mother Church. It was an era when the passion of
giving for pious uses was strong upon men, just as the passion
for the martyr's crown defined in earlier days a devotional
epoch in the history of the Church, and we should note that
when they gave, they meant the Church to keep what was
given, so long as respect anywhere existed for the dead, for
legal instruments, and the testimony of witnesses. Their will
is set forth with the utmost care, and nothing is omitted that
in future might cause doubt to rise or suspicion to rest upon
the right of the Church to hold their bequests in her patri-
mony. The strength of this is found in the absolute freedom
of the gift from all burdens, and in its being bequeathed as a
gift for all time. " In perpetuam " is their constant phrase.
Of course, on the other hand, there is no reason to regard this
* Original Charters (i., 98), in Register House, Edinburgh.

THE CHARTERS 63

as partaking of finality in Church affairs, as is sometimes done.
The unalterable laws of the Medes and Persians have all been
altered, and the gifts given " forever " have also undergone
those mutations of possession which overtake all earthly
things. Human contingencies spring from a deeper fountain
than even human piety. Furthermore, it is impossible now,
in these protestant days, to fulfil the conditions attached to
their donations. The Roman Catholic priest alone can con-
scientiously claim to save the souls of masters, fathers, and
mothers, predecessors and successors, in return for carucates
and ploughgates of land, crofts and tofts, and wax candles.
No minister without that pale can even legally, not to say
conscientiously, demand these possessions, on the foundations
of the original bequest, without first assuming the spiritual
obligations which they include within them. This is some-
times overlooked. Nevertheless, it is also clear, that when
once a gift is laid upon God's altar, and is afterwards found
in the pockets of persons who can produce neither writ nor
relationship to justify its presence there, it is impossible to
deny the inference that morality, the worst, and sacrilege, the
vilest, have been at work in the mysterious transference.

Surprise is sometimes expressed that wealthy and opulent
men, and men not so wealthy, should, at that time, have been
seized with such an unbounded desire to pour their dearest
treasures into the coffers of the Church. So lavish were they,
and so vast was their benevolence, that, to account for it, we
naturally seek for some reason, which falls somewhat within
the category of those motives which move men to generous
impulses, apart from those more exalted principles of high
.sacrifice which can alone be illu.strated by the heroic few.
There seem to have been few men of consequence in those
times who did not bestow gifts on the Church and its priest-

6i HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

hood. What prompted them to such unusual benevolence?
Love of salvation, and love of friends, and pious desires to
escape eternal torment, no doubt lie upon the surface of it
all, and are the reasons which obtain assertion and place in
instruments. But perhaps a wider and more inexpressible
feeling lay at its base. It is suggested by Dr Spence, Dean
of Gloucester, in treating of the Conqueror's success, and sin
in his subjection of England.* " But in the hour of his
success, men in whom he had the deepest confidence began
to see the awful wrong of the great conquest. The Norman
Prelates .seem to have been specially struck with the terrible-
ness of the Conqueror's work. Some few among his chosen
followers refused to share at all in the spoil, and probably the
enormous number of religious foundations in England during
the years immediately following the conquest, point to the
same conviction on the part of many of his Anglo-Norman
nobles, that a great and fearful sin had been committed, and
that some atonement must be made." We can .scarcely imagine
how stupendous was the calamity that crushed the Engli-sh
people then. It can perhaps only be matched by the disaster
which the English themselves inflicted on the Britons when
they fir.st came to their island. At that invasion we are
told : -f- " The barbarous conquerors plundered all the neigh-
bouring cities and country, spread the conflagration from the
eastern to the western sea without any opposition, and
covered almost every part of the devoted island. Public as
well as private structures were overturned ; the priests were
everywhere slain before the altars ; the prelates and the
people, without any respect of persons, were destroyed with
fire and sword ; nor was there any to bury those who had

* Good Words, July 1890.

f Bede's Ecclesiastical History, Book I., c. w.

THE CHARTERS 65

been thus cruelly slaughtered. Some of the miserable re-
mainder, being taken in the mountains, were butchered in
heaps. Others, spent with hunger, came forth and submitted
themselves to the enemy for food, being destined to undergo
perpetual servitude, if they were not killed even upon the
spot. Some with sorrowful hearts fled beyond the seas,
others, continuing in their own country, led a miserable life
among the woods, rocks, and mountains, with scarcely enough
food to support life, and expecting every moment to be their
last." That was in the fifth century. The great battle of
Hastings in the eleventh deeply avenged it, but the avenging
seems to have been done with a tenderer conscience lying
behind it, and pity and contrition for national sin, in order to
appease its pangs, hastened to erect churches and endow
priesthoods, as much, perhaps, to bury up blood as to advance
Christianity, The conspicuous examples of the great land-
owners and noblemen, and especially in Scotland of King
David I., would doubtless be widely emulated by their vassals,
and thus to give to Holy Mother Church would become
fashionable and honourable, as well as being good spiritual
security both here and hereafter.

Charter No. 185 has the title "Concerning four acres of
land and four of meadow conceded to the Church of Childin-
chirch. To all (the children) of Holy Mother (Church),
Thomas the Cleric, son of William of Collielaw, wishes health
in the Lord. Be it known to you all that I, by the prompt-
ing of divine charity, and for the salvation of my soul, and for
the salvation of the souls of all my ancestors and successors,
have given and conceded, and by this my charter confirmed
to God and to the Church of Saint Cuthbert at Channelkirk,
and the Canons of Dryburgh, eight acres of land, to wit, four
acres of arable land and four of meadow, viz., the Haugh

66 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

under Langsyde, in the territory of Oxton, in free and
perpetual charity, to be held and possessed by them, from
me and my heirs for ever, as freely, quietly, fully, and honour-
ably as any charity is held and possessed more freely, quietly,
fully, and honourably, by any religious men in the whole
kingdom of Scotland. Moreover, I and my forementioned
heirs will guarantee the land to the foresaid canons against
all men. And that this my donation, gift, and confirmation
may obtain perpetual force, I have affixed my seal to the
present document. In the presence of these witnesses, etc.,
etc." Thomas the Cleric, son of William of Collielaw, was
alive about 1327, but the charter may have been granted
earlier.

The names of the witnesses are unfortunately not given.
The " Langsyde " mentioned in this charter seems to have
sunk into complete oblivion, but there is reason to believe
that the " Haugh " is Mountmill Haugh, and consequently
" Langsyde " may have stood somewhere near the ruins of
Butterdean on the Airhouse Road. Part of the glebe of the
church was for long in Mountmill Haugh, and was excambed
for the corresponding acreage which now lies on the north
side of the manse, so late as November 1871.

The " territory of Oxton " is worthy of notice as pointing
to a peculiarity of ancient agricultural life. It seems that
under such lawless times men found it necessary to dwell in
communities or villas rather than in farms. By this means
they derived greater security and immunity from assault.
Attached to these villas was a district or territoria which
cottagers and husbandmen tilled in their several proportions.
According to Professor Cosmo Innes the workers on the land
were of three classes : * i. The natives, serf, villein, bond, or
* Kelso Register, pref. xxxii.

THE CHARTERS 67

carle, who was transferred like the land, and might be
brought back if he attempted to escape like any stray ox or
sheep. 2. The Cottars, who held in rent from one to nine
acres ; and, 3. The Husbandmen, who held land of such
dimensions as would approach nearer to our modern
conception of a farm. The lowest of these classes, viz.
the serf, is believed to have been the class of natives and
their descendants whom the Angles and Saxons found in
Scotland, and whom they subdued into slavery. Is the
" bondager " of to-day a faint survival of this ancient class of
people ?

The " territory " of Oxton seems to have been bounded on
the south by Over Howden burn, and on the north by what
is now Mountmill Haugh. The Leader on the east, and the
Wide-open Common on the west, would naturally be the
other retaining lines.

" William of Collielaw," mentioned in the above deed, is
spoken of in a Kelso Charter (see " Oxton ") as having crofts
near Over Howden about 1206. He must therefore have
been alive about that date.

The House of Soltre, which is referred to in the following
charter, stood on Soutrahill immediately outside the northern
boundary of Channelkirk parish. It is assumed to have been
founded by Malcolm IV., grandson of David I., in 1164, ^s a
hospital of the Trinity Friars. It was annexed to Trinity
College by Mary of Gueldres in 1462, Only a small part
now remains, commonly called " Soutra Isle," and which is
observable from the highway on the west when crossing
Soutra Hill by the Edinburgh road. It underwent some
repairs in 1898.

Charter No. 187, c. 1220 A.D. (in Soltre Charters c.
1 200) — " Concerning a pound of pepper and another of

68 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

cumin to be rendered to us annually by the master of Soltre
for tithe of Fulewithnes, in the parish of Channelkirk,

" This is the agreement made between the Abbey and
Convent of Dryburgh, on the one side, and the master of
Soltre and his brethren on the other, viz., that the same
Abbey and Convent, being charitably disposed, have given
up and have freed the House of Soltre from all tithes and
dues which the same ought, by ecclesiastical law, to pay to
the Mother Church of Channelkirk from that carucate of
land which he held in the parish of Channelkirk, which
is called Fulewithnes, at Wedelford, viz., that in crop
cultivated for their own use, at their own expense, as well as
that in other movables in the same land, themselves giving to
the house of Dryburgh annually, for recognition of the
Mother Church of Channelkirk, one pound of pepper and
another of cumin at the fair of Roxburgh. And it must
be observed that this has been charitably given up to the
same brethren as long as they hold the foresaid land for
their own uses, under their own cultivation. But their
servants on the same land, and also all men whom they may
have had residing under them on the same land, shall fully
and wholly, over all things, pay their tithes and all dues to
the Mother Church of Channelkirk, both in life and in death,
whether the land be cultivated by the House of Soltre or not.

" If, moreover, the foresaid brethren of the House of Soltre
shall give to others the land already mentioned, or shall sell,
or even let it on lease, all the donations and ecclesiastical
rights of that whole land, both that in growing crop as well
as that in all other things, shall fully and wholly be paid in
all things to the Mother Church,

" Besides, it was so agreed between them, that if the often-
mentioned brethren of the House of Soltre [blank], viz., from

THE CHARTERS 6&

the year of our Lord, one thousand two hundred and twenty,
should receive any land or lease in the parish of Channelkirk,
or [blank], if they should have obtained the foresaid land of
any one, they shall pay the full tithes and ecclesiastical rights
in full, in all things, and over all things, to the Mother Church
of that land, and from all things in it likewise, and wherever
they shall have had (possessed) anything in their parishes as
well themselves as their servants, and the men holding from
them.

" In evidence of which contract, the seals of both houses are
appended on this side and on that to the writing of this con-
vention. By these witnesses, etc."

As usual, the names of witnesses are here conspicuous
by their absence. But a few are given in the Soltre
Charter, among whom is William Alb of Hartside. (See
" Hartside.")

In perusing these charters it is evident that the literary

forms of law must have taken their rise first in the Church.

"In those ancient times (tenth and eleventh centuries) we had

already laws, but no lawyers. . . . The class of professional

lawyers grew up along with the growth of a more complicated

and technical jurisprudence." * The monks necessarily were

the first lawyers. This, however, is not surprising when we

remember that the great bulwark of our liberties. Trial by

Jury, first originated in Church courts, according to the best

authorities, -j- Hallam X notes, however, " that the clergy, by

their exclusive knowledge of Latin, had it in their power

to mould the language of public documents for their own

purposes ! "

* Growth of English Constitution from the Earliest Times (Freeman),
p. 126.

t Cosmo Innes' Legal Antiquities, p. 213.
X Europe during the Middle Ages, chap- vii.

70 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

No trace is now found of the site of this carucate of land
(104 acres), called " Fulewithnis at Wedelford," * unless it be
the place now called Threeburnford, The frequent expression
" the Mother Church of Channelkirk " seems to point to her
well-known ecclesiastical status in the valley. It may refer
either to the fact asserted in another charter that she was
" the mother and parish church of the whole valley," or to the
two chapels of Carfrae and Glengelt, over which she was
superior. The two charters which follow here deal with the
latter matter.

" Charter 186 (no date). Concerning the indemnification of
Channelkirk Church on account of the Chapel of Glengelt.

" To all this document, etc., Henry de Mundeville wishes
eternal well-being in the Lord. To you all I make known
that I will be bound, as well by the security furnished on oath
as by the present document, to the chief Abbey and Convent
of Dryburgh for myself and heirs forever ; that I will never
injure the Mother Church at Channelkirk on account of the
chapel erected in my domain of Glengelt, but will securely
confirm the obventions of every kind belonging to the said
Church of Channelkirk, according to the tenor of the charter
designed to me, by the Abbey and Convent of Dryburgh, con-
cerning the celebration of divine ordinances in the said
chapel. Moreover, I have given and granted to the same
Abbey and Convent of Dryburgh, three acres in my territory
of Glengelt, adjoining those seven acres of land, which, from
the gift of Lord Ivon de Veteripont, my ancestor in the same
territory, they hold and possess on the east side of the said
Church of Channelkirk, to be possessed and held by them in
pure and perpetual charity, according to the bounds and
divisions named more fully in my charter written concerning
* See " Hartside" and "Threeburnford."

THE CHARTERS 71

these three acres of land, of which I have executed a fuller
sasine to the same. In witness whereof, forever, I have af-
fixed my seal to the present writing,"

This* Henry de Mundeville was invited by Edward I.,
on May 24, 1297, along with the Scotch nobility, to go an
expedition with him into Flanders.

The Veteriponts (often called Vipont) come into notice
during David the First's reign. Rev. Dr John Brown, minister
of Langton, writing in 1834, has this observation regarding
them. " During •!• the reign of David I., the Manor of
Langton, with the advowson of the Church, belonged to Roger
de Ow, a Northumbrian follower of Prince Henry. Roger de
Ow granted to the monks of Kelso the Church of Langton,
which was accordingly held by Henry the Parson. From him
the estate passed to William de Veteriponte or Vipont, who
continued to these monks the Church with its tithes and lands."
" The first Vipont was succeeded by his eldest son by his first
wife, Emma de St Hilary, and this family continued Lords of
Langton till Sir William Vipont was killed at Bannockburn
in 1 3 14. Immediately after this the estate passed into the
family of Cockburn by marriage with the heiress of Vipont."
The family seems to have extended itself to a considerable
degree, but never rose to any great eminence in Scotland.
Scott \ rather ridicules the Vipont character in Ivanhoe. The
Ivon de Veteripont mentioned above must have lived before
1 1 89, and seems to have been alive in 1230. § (See also
" Glengelt " below.)

In Charter No. 191 (no date) John de Sinclair promises in

* Documents Illustrative of the History of Scotland. (Rev. Jos.
Stevenson.) Vol. ii., p. 169.

t New Statistical Account^ " Berwickshire," p. 237.

X Ivanhoe, chap. viii.

§ Calendar of Documents, vol. i., p. 203.

72 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

similar terms to those of Henry de Mundeville, that the
Mother Churches of Channelkirk and Salton shall not suJEfer
injury from the chapels which he holds in Carfrae and Herd-
manston, and certain feast days of the church are specified
when neither divine service is to be heard nor mass celebrated
in these chapels. And in recognition of the right of both
Mother Churches he confirms two acres of land to Dryburgh
Abbey in his territory of Herdmanston.

The Sinclairs of Carfrae seem to have been actively en-
gaged in the thirteenth century in the affairs of Upper Lauder-
dale. Concerning the origin of the family, it appears, that
like so many others, the Sinclairs came over with the Con-
queror. They branch out into distinct divisions during the
twelfth century, viz., the Sinclairs of Roslin and the Sinclairs
of Herdmanston.

William de St Clair obtained the manor of Roslin in
Lothian, where he settled in David the First's reign. He
seems to be the first of the Sinclairs to rise into historical
notice. This branch gave the Sinclairs the Earls of Orkney ;
the Earl Sinclairs of Caithness ; Sinclair, Lord Sinclair ;
Sinclair of Longformacus ; and others.*

The second branch is the one which connects itself with
Channelkirk.

Henry de Sinclair, Sheriff to Richard de Morville of
Lauderdale, Constable of Scotland, seems to have been a son
of the first William de Sinclair of Roslin. The Sinclairs of
Herdmanston and Carfrae derive their less remote origin from
him.

Henry de Sinclair was succeeded by his son Allan, who
appears with his father in the Charters of the De Morvilles.
It is this Allan who obtained from William de Morville, son
* Douglas's Peerage^ p. 112.

THE CHARTERS • 73

of Richard de Morville, the lands of Carfrae in the parish of
Channelkirk, in marriage with Matilda de Windefore, and
this is confirmed by Roland the Constable, who died
I2CX) A.D.*

John de Sinclair, who in the above-mentioned charter
grants an indemnity to the Mother Churches of Salton and
Channelkirk, was successor to Allan de Sinclair in his estates.
We find him in 1296, on loth July, sending in his sub-
mission to King Edward I., when he invaded Scotland to
quell Wallace's rebellion.i*

Charter No. 237 (about 1200) is chiefly interesting here
for its mention of Oxton, the mill of which seems to have
been held, along with several others, in the hands of Bishop
William Malvoisine, St Andrews (1202-38), and regarding
which something more will be said below in narrating the
history of the village of Oxton.

In 1 22 1 (Charter 234), James, brother of the Lord Pope,
Penitentiary and Chaplain of the Apostolic See, Legate to
the beloved brethren in Christ, the Abbot and Canons of
Dryburgh, grants confirmation concerning all their churches,
lands, and possessions, and the church of Channelkirk appears
in the list in the usual way.

Charter No. 251, dated 1228, contains a general confirma-
tion of the Abbey's possessions, and mention is made of " the
place itself on which the foresaid monastery stands." As
already noticed, it is disputed whether Hugh de Morville had
land to give for ecclesiastical purposes so far south as Dry-
burgh Abbey, and therefore if he had not, could not have
been its founder. This charter does not mention the giver of
the site. Channelkirk is catalogued as belonging to Dryburgh
Abbey.

* Dip. Scotia;, pi. 81. f Palgravc's Documents and Records, p. 169.

74 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

Charters 257 and 262, with the above, are from Pope
Gregory IX., and bear the same import. They also tell us
that the brethren of Dryburgh Abbey were of the Premon-
stratensian Order. This Order was founded in the first half
of the twelfth century by Norbert, and derived its name from
Premontre, where its first monastery was founded in 1 121. It
spread through all countries, and wielded great influence.
The rules were those of Augustine ; religious practices were
very severe; fasts were frequent, and scourgings common.
Flesh was altogether forbidden. Their life at Dryburgh
Abbey was therefore no path of roses. They were usually
called white canons from the colour of their dress. To call up
to fancy what they looked like as they went in and out on
their various duties, we have to imagine a person in a white
cassock with a rocket and cape over it, a long white cloak,
and a square hat or bonnet of white felt. They wore breeches
and shoes, but no shirt. The abbot wore red shoes, and a
short cloak, and carried a pastoral staff like a shepherd's
crook. They were poor at first and lived by their labour,
but their piety soon gained them benefactors. Their privi-
leges were many, and in those days, invaluable. They
paid no tithes, they could not be summoned before
any secular tribunal, and neither were they under the
Bishop's jurisdiction. Their work meant religious exer-
cises, copying books, and reading, attending to the
household offices, and working in the fields. They held
devotions seven times a day.

In 1230 A,D., Alexander II. confirms the Church of
Channelkirk to Dryburgh Abbey (Charter No. 242), and we
leave the Register of Dryburgh for a little to include an
important event which transpired in the history of this
church in A.D. [241, This was its dedication by David de

THE CHARTERS 75

Bernham, Bishop of St Andrews.* A notable event. Be-
tween 1239 and 1253, Bishop de Bernham consecrated no less
than 140 churches in his large diocese, and the reason of his
activity, apart from his own laudable zeal, is found in the
interest which Cardinal Otho had taken in the question.
We cull the following notes from the Pontificale as quoted.
"In the year 1239 Cardinal Otho held a Legislative Council
in Edinburgh. Unfortunately the records of this Synod are
lost, but it seems highly probable that the Cardinal should
have issued among others a constitution, relating to the
neglect of consecration of churches. We know that this was
a subject which had been in Otho's mind, and that only a
year or two before he had promulgated an order dealing
with that subject at the head of his constitutions for England
in 1237. The following extract from Johnson's English
Canons f will give an idea of the nature of the document :
' Now, because we have ourselves seen and heard by many
that so wholesome a mystery is despised, at least neglected
by some (for we have found many churches and some
cathedrals not consecrated with holy oil though built of
wood), we, therefore, being desirous to obviate so great a
neglect, do ordain and give in charge that all cathedral,
conventual and parochial churches which are ready built, and
their walls perfected, be consecrated by the diocesan bishops
to whom they belong, or others authorised by them within
two years.'"

On 3rd June 1239 David de Bernham was elected
Bishop of St Andrews. On the 22nd day of January

* De Bernham's Pontificale^ etc. Edinburgh Pitsligo Press, 1885.
Introduction by Chr. Wordsworth, Rector of Glaston. Rev. Dr Jas.
Gammack's " Itinerary of De Bernham," in The Scottish Guardian^ Feb.
1883.

\ An^lo-Catholic Library, Part II., p. 151.

76 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

in 1240, he himself was consecrated by the bishops of
Glasgow, Caithness, and Brechin. Like a true shepherd, he
at once zealously set about visiting his large diocese, which
extended along the east coast of all Scotland from the
Tweed to the Dee. The service book which he used was
fortunately preserved in Paris, and it contains the roll of his
church dedications up till 1253. The dates and places are
only recorded, the titles of the churches, that is, the names
of the saints to whom dedicated, being omitted. These have
to be sought in other records. Early in the spring, on the
14th day of March 1241, he is at Mid-Calder ; on the i6th he
dedicates St Cuthbert's Church, Edinburgh. He then passes
up the valley between the Pentlands and the Lammermoors,
and descends into Berwickshire by Soutra and Lauderdale.
If the March of that year was as tempestuous as that month
usually is now, his journey would truly be a bitter one, and
his sense of duty must have been strong to brave it. It is
then, notwithstanding, that on the 23rd of March he arrives
at Channelkirk and dedicates that church, passing on to
Gordon on the 28th and Stitchill on the 30th. Lauder is not
mentioned in the list of dedications, for a reason which
becomes apparent in the chapter following.

With regard to the year, it is as well to note that the
ecclesiastical year in Europe generally commenced on 25th
March. Strictly speaking, the year of our dedication would
thus be 23rd March 1242 according to our reckoning. But
we retain De Bernham's mode of dating.

In stating " facts and figures " in this way we naturally
lose something of the solemnity with which the lapse of time
should impress us. When Bishop de Bernham stood on the
hillside intent on consecrating Channelkirk Church, and
when the ancient inhabitants of the parish wended their

THE CHARTERS 77

toilsome path upwards to take part in the religious mysteries
of that day of March 1 241, we scarcely pause to remember
that the world was very much smaller to them than it is now
to us, and that hardly any of the well-known landmarks to
which we are accustomed in history were then visible.
America was unknown. No one had heard of Australia.
India was a hearsay. A few had heard of China. Sir
William Wallace and King Robert the Bruce were not born.
The Parliament as we have it now, in its two great branches,
did not exist. John Knox and the Reformation did not
dawn on Scotland till 319 years afterwards, and if the people
of Channelkirk had been gifted then with a glimpse into the
future, they would have required to look almost as far forward
to the memorable days of Queen Mary and Knox as we now
need to look backward. About the time when Channelkirk
was dedicated, candles came into vogue, linen was introduced,
a licence to dig coal was first granted to Newcastle, and gold
coinage took its rise some time later. Roger Bacon was busy
with his chemicals and magnifying glasses, and, as some think,
inventing gunpowder, while the compass began to be first
known. But if physical developments were then but in an
embryonic condition, the growth of spiritual power was
immense. It was the noontime of papal glory. Never
before or since has Roman Catholicism gained such an
ascendency over the entire world. No nation was exempt
from her rule, and kings and peoples alike bowed before her
imperious authority. The slightest whisper of the Pope
made a kingdom shake. His deliverance was law, and
whether it ran along the shores of the Mediterranean, the
Thames, or the sequestered stream of the Leader, his power
was equally invincible, and submission to it inevitable. An
illustrative case of this occurs in our dale about seven or eight

78 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

years after Channelkirk dedication, and must have been
pending as an ecclesiastical dispute when De Bernham passed
through it, as is shown in next chapter.

From De Bernham's Pontificale we can partly call up to
our imagination the scene that was enacted at the consecra-
tion of the church. In such a remote place, the ceremony
might not be so elaborate or complete as it is given there,
but the essentials were never omitted in any case. The
articles required in the service were crosses, candelabra and
wax candles, vases for water, keys, holy oil, chrisma, hyssop,
sand or ashes, wine, salt, incense, bread. After robing
and psalm-chanting, the Bishop and procession came
singing to the church door, "Zaccheus, make haste," etc.
Twelve wax lights were lit and placed outside in a
circuit around the Church and the same number within.
The procession then went round the Church carrying the
relicts of the saint and singing the litany. A deacon then
entered the Church and shut the door to ask the question,
" Who is the King of Glory ? " in reply to the Bishop's knock,
Lift up your heads," etc., after he had walked round the
Church three times. The door being opened, the Bishop and
procession entered bearing the cross, while the chest with the
saint's relics was held before the door by priests. A sign of
the cross the length and breadth of the floor was then made,
and the cross of the Bishop fixed in the centre of the Church,
and formulas, prayers, genuflections, chants, litany, etc.,
followed. After this the Greek alphabet was written across
the floor from the left corner in the east to the right
corner in the west, and a cross made with this by the
Latin alphabet written from the east right corner to the west
left. Then followed the consecration of salt, the ashes, holy
water, the wine, and the altar. Then beginning in the east

THE CHARTERS 79

left-hand corner, as with the Greek alphabet, the Bishop went
once round the church sprinkHng the walls. This was done
other twice, each time a higher sprinkling being given, till the
wall-tops were reached. He enacted the same ceremony out-
side, chanting and defying, in the language of Scripture, the
winds and waters to move the walls, till finally he sprinkled
the very ridge, singing : " Jacob saw a ladder which touched
the highest heavens, and angels descended upon it." The
consecration of the churchyard (when required ; Channelkirk
churchyard would be consecrated long before this) seems
then to have come next in order, with candles set in the four
corners, and much ceremony and singing. After this was
done, the Bishop again entered the church. Holy water was
sprinkled over the floor, the altar was consecrated with water,
oil, and the chrisma, the crosses to be used blessed, and the
incense. Here followed, perhaps, the most important part of
the whole service, viz., the exposing of the relics. They were
brought out from the altar, a veil being put up between the
priests and the people (this being the first time that the
people are noticed in the service), a place was dug and
anointed at its four corners with the chrisma, and incense
burned, and then the Bishop received into his own hands the
sacred relics, and deposited them, singing meanwhile an anti-
phonal, " The saints shall exalt in glory, in their graves they
.shall rejoice." A table having been placed over the relics, it
was daubed with lime as the Bishop sang : " The bodies of the
saints sleep in peace, and their names shall live thro' eternity."
The actual dedication closed with the demand for a gift to
the Church. No church could be dedicated without it, and it
was usually given by the lord who owned the land. He
himself placed it on the altar with a small knife or baton, the
clergy following the act, by singing : " Confirm this which has

80 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

been done, O God, through us to Thy holy temple which is in
Jerusalem. Hallelujah." The Bishop then raised his right
hand and blessed the church with the usual formal benedic-
tion. The gospels were then read to the people, and the
Bishop preached. He explained the meaning of the dedica-
tion, exhorted them to come and go to church in peace, an
injunction which was not altogether unnecessary, as in
Berwick Church, about this time, there had been bloodshed.
He enjoined them to observe the anniversary of the dedica-
tion as a holy day, and to give legitimate gifts to the church.
Mass was then celebrated : the singers sang " How terrible
is this place : this is none other than the House of God, the
very gate of heaven." A lesson was read from Revelation,
the Bishop blessed the people, and the whole service ter-
minated.

Channelkirk witnessed this in the wild March month of
1 241. Inexpressibly beautiful and impressive must have been
the sight. Looking out on the church to-day in this last year
of a dying century, one experiences a wistful sense of some-
thing awanting. Whether it is that distance lends enchant-
ment, or that the wings of Time, stretched over those far-away
days, cast a more mystic shadow over them than we can see
over our own, certain it is that a majesty and beauty have
faded from our religious services which one would not wholly
despise if they were to be restored. But, perhaps, for them,
as for these old days themselves, there is now no returning.

CHAPTER III

THE PARISH KIRK OF LAUDERDALE

Ecclesiastical Disputes in the Thirteenth Century — The Lauder Case —
Struggle for Teinds — Lord Andrew Moray — Eymeric, Lauder Priest
— Judicial Proceedings — -The Pope's SeYitence and Suspension of
Eymeric — Resistance of Eymeric — Final Settlement Concerning the
Chapel of Lauder — Channelkirk Church, the Mother and Parish
Church of the Whole Valley — Triumph of Dryburgh Abbey— The
" Parish " of the Twelfth Century — First Mention of Lauder Church
— Its Patrons — Channelkirk Priests and Lauder — Lauder Church or
Chapel — Its Status before the Reformation.

At Jedburgh, in the year 1230, King Alexander II. grants a
general confirmation to Dryburgh Abbey * of all her churches
and other possessions, among which, as a matter of course, is
duly mentioned the Church of Childinchurch. This Charter
(No. 242) does not afford us any more information con-
cerning ourselves, but in a deliverance of the delegates of the
Pope regarding the dispute about Lauder Church (No. 279),
Channelkirk comes into rather interesting prominence. As
is not uncommon, the light which enables us to discern
Lauder and Channelkirk Churches so clearly at that dim
distance, shines from the fires of an ecclesiastical quarrel.
The thirteenth century, indeed, is somewhat notorious for
its ecclesiastical recriminations. In 1220, just when Lauder
dispute was in a state of incubation, the Bishop of Glasgow
and the Canons of Jedburgh were settling an embroilment

* IJhcr de Dryburgh,

82 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

before arbitrators in the Chapel of Nesbit. The Pope, in
1228, comes in between Roger, rector of Ellesden, and Kelso
Abbey, lest trouble should increase ; and in 1203, Lord William
de Veteriponte and the monks of Kelso have warm debatings
over certain shealings in Lammermoor. Earlier, in 11 80,*
the Melrose monks have a first-class combat with Richard
de Morville of Lauderdale, concerning rights of pasture and
forest lying between Gala Water and Leader. Neither did
this quarrel soon die. As late as 1268, the Abbot of Melrose
and a great part of his Convent were excommunicated by a
Provincial Council held at Perth,*!" fo'' violating the venerable
sanctuary of Stow in Wedale, by breaking into the house of
the Bishop of St Andrews, and slaying a clerk, and wounding
many others. Friction between the nobles and the religious
houses seems to have been very great about this period ; but
the rapacity which characterised the former in the later days
of the Reformation, found a firmer resistance from the papist
than was possible to the Protestant. Arbitration, it may be
noted, seems to have been generally recommended and
followed in these contentions as the best method of establish-
ing peace. As a rule, the system seems to have worked well,
but in the Lauder case, which is our immediate interest here,
it utterly failed. The antagonism was too deep-rooted.

The parties and religious houses concerned were widely
scattered, a>d included Lauder priest, who was called
Eymeric ; the Abbeys of Kilwinning and Dryburgh ; the
Bishop of St Andrews ; the Priory of May ; Lord Andrew de
Moravia, bishop ; and the great De Morville family. The
cause of war was the teinds of Lauder Church. Who should
uplift and possess them ?

* Liber de Melrose^ Chronica de Mailros.
f Concilia Scoficattce, p. \\\\.

THE PARISH KIRK OF LAUDERDALE 83

In 1 220, Kilwinning Abbey, founded in 1140 by Hugh de
Morville, opens a triangular fight between Dryburgh Abbey
and certain others in Glasgow and of the diocese of St
Andrews, concerning the tithes of Lauder Church. A con-
vention is then made between Kilwinning and Dryburgh, and
the affair is harmonised for the time. When ten years roll
past, the smouldering embers burst forth in fiercer flame, and
give light strong enough to define the situation more clearly.
In 1230 the Bishop of St Andrews, William Malvoisine, who
was also, previous to A.D, 1200, Bishop of Glasgow, grants to
Dryburgh Abbey a charter confirming the right of teinds
which the canons of that house held in Lauder parish. By it
all are given to understand, " that we (Bishop William, viz.),
under the influence of divine piety, have granted, and by
episcopal authority have confirmed, to our beloved sons of
the Abbey and Convent of Dryburgh the whole half share
which Lord Andrew de Moravia held in the Parish Church of
Lauder, to be held quietly in perpetual possession, with reser-
vation of the tenure of Symon of Nusiac, who holds it at
present by gift of the said canons, for the rest of his life.
But in the case of his yielding it up, or dying, we grant the
said half share to the foresaid canons, and confirm it for their
own free use, and with the full completion of their Title, that
it be directed and held by them without opposition, as it is
contained in the declaration of the judges, in the instrument
of the delegates which they have beside them, namely : the
half of every kind of teinds from Treburne, from Pilmuir, from
the land of Walter Hostarius {i.e., the Doorward), from the
land of Martin, viz., Withlaw and Langelt (Whitelaw and
Langalt), and from the land of Utred of Langelt and from
Ailinispeth, and from the land of Samson, viz., Todlaw,
Aldinstoun, Welplaw, Lyalstoun, and Burncastell, and if

84 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

anything new should arise within the bounds of these villages,
the other revenues of the Church of Lauder are to be re-
served. Moreover, we decree that he who for the time may
hold office in the said Church of Lauder shall in no way in
anything give any trouble or annoyance to the same canons
concerning the portion belonging to them." This charter of
confirmation receives " perpetual validity " by the affixment
of the seal of the Bishop.

There is no doubt here as to the .strained state of matters.
The canons of Dryburgh claim a " whole half share " of the
teinds derived from the above lands which seem to have
belonged formerly to Lord Andrew Moray. But the Lauder
priest gives trouble and annoyance to them in uplifting them,
and the canons bring pressure to bear upon Bishop William
of St Andrews, whose diocese stretches over Lauderdale, to
make it clear to Eymeric that his protest against their actiqn
is hopeless, and that he is utterly in the wrong. The case
had, doubtless, been contested at an earlier date, as a refer-
ence to " the instrument of the delegates " in the hands of the
judges seems to warrant us in assuming.

The *' Lord Andrew de Moravia " mentioned is the well-
known Bishop Andrew Moray, founder of Elgin Cathedral,
Dean of Moray, 1 221-1242, and the seventh bishop in that
diocese. He was very wealthy and munificent in his gifts to
the Church, helped doubtless by his close connection with the
house of Duffus. His possessions, as we see, embraced a
considerable part of Lauder parish, mentioned by the names
of the separate farms, all or nearly all of which still preserve
the same nomenclature with but little alteration.* It is
*" Walter de Moray, in 1278, exempted the Dryburgh canons from
multure for their corn grown on the above land (the land — a ploughgate
—and pasture for 300 sheep given by David Oliford in Smalham), and on
their ground at Smalham MWn."— Monastic Annals of Teviotdale, p. 305.

THE PARISH KIRK OF LAUDERDALE 85

accepted that Hugh de Morville possessed all Lauderdale
during his lifetime, but between the date of his death in 1162
and the year 1230, the date of this charter, when the De
Morville name had sunk into that of the Earl of Galway,
the area of Lauderdale valley seems to have been, through
marriage, broken up into several estates, owned by proprietors
who, in a few cases, achieved a more lustrous historical name
than even that of the high official and friend of King
David I. This was partly due to the generosity of the De
Morvilles themselves, and partly, no doubt, to the necessity
of the times. We know that Carfrae, for example, was in the
hands of the Sinclairs before the end of the twelfth century,
and Hartside, CoUielaw, Glengelt, and Howden — to instance
those with which we are most acquainted — all seem to have
been under separate owners about 1206. Bishop Andrew
Moray may have become proprietor of the farms, from which
the teinds were said to be drawn about the end of the same
century that closed the record of the De Morvilles, and the
original endowment of Lauder Church having become com-
plicated in the changes of landowners, may easily have
created great perplexity to all concerned, both churchmen
and laymen. With every division of ownership, the new
question of proportion of teinds lawfully due from each
separate estate would arise, and this of itself would be enough
to engender friction and bitterness between the mildest-
minded of men. But the monks were by no means lacking
in their devotion to their secular patrimony, however tenacious
and grasping the nobles also of their day may have been of
the burdens laid upon the land under their sway. The priest
of Lauder, at least, seems to have had a special gift of pug-
nacity, and the teinds which the canons of Dryburgh were
determined to upHft from Bishop Moray's lands, he was as

86 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

determined should never be fingered by them. They pro-
tested : he snapped his fingers at them, for the men on the
land, who had the first handling of the sheaves, were evidently
his friends. In every case he held the teinds, as we shall see.
The canons complained to the dignitaries above both, and the
judges sat, as it appears, and decided in their favour. What
cared Eymeric? Alas, however, for priestly courage, if a
Pope's favour has no gracious smile for it. If priests will not
bow, then, in such dire circumstances, they must break, and
poor Eymeric, not bowing obsequiously upon this stone of
power, ultimately falls under it, and straightway is ground to
powder.

For Eymeric will not yield the teinds from Bishop
Moray's lands to the canons of Dryburgh, and eighteen
bitter and sullen years pass by from the date of Bishop
William's caution, and the year 1248 dawns on the same
disagreeable state of matters. But the Pope has now come
upon the scene. The eighteen years seem to have had their
share of discussion, trial, adjudication, and continued defiance
on the part of Eymeric. The patience of Dryburgh canons,
of the St Andrews' authorities, and last of all, of the Pope,
is exhausted (Bishop William, good and patient with this
refractory Lauder priest, no doubt, is in his grave ten
years ago), and the bolt falls upon pugnacious Eymeric, and
he is extinguished for ever. The canons of Dryburgh de-
manded Eymeric's removal, and the whole case was referred
to His Holiness Pope Innocent IV. He appointed judges
in the case, which went to trial. Eymeric stubbornly refused
to appear although summoned, and bore himself aloof
haughtily. The "sentence" given below shows how
thoroughly the ancient monks reverenced law, and how
majestic is its mien through all forms and processes

THE PARISH KIRK OF LAUDERDALE 87

when moving under the dictates of the ecclesiastical judg-
ment*

" Sentence of the delegates appointed as judges in the
case of Lauder Church.

" In the year of grace, 1248, on the first day of Jove after
the discovery of the Holy Cross in the Parish Church of St
Andrew, we, John and John, priors of St Andrew and of
May, and Adam, Archdeacon of St Andrew, agents, ap-
pointed judges by the Pope in the case which is pending
between the Abbey and Convent of Dryburgh, of the
Premonstratensian Order, on the one side, and Master
Eymeric, the accused, rector of the Church of Lauder, on the
other.

" We have caused the Apostolic Letters addressed to us to
be read in our presence, the tenor whereof is as follows : —

" Innocent, Bishop, Servant of the servants of God, to our
beloved sons of St Andrew, health and apostolic benediction.
On the part of our beloved sons of the Abbey and Convent
of Dryburgh of the Premonstratensian Order, a complaint has
been laid before us, that, on account of Eymeric, of the
Church of Lauder, in the diocese of St Andrew, which justly
belongs to their monastery, they are injured in these same
matters. And therefore we entrust to your discretion by
apostolic writing, that, having called the parties, to hear the
case, and the appeal being removed, to close the matter
finally, causing their decision to be strictly observed on pain
of ecclesiastical censure. Moreover, to compel the witnesses
who may have been named, if through favour, hatred, or fear,
they shall withdraw, by the same censure, to adhibit their
names to the truth, and if you shall not all have been able to
be present at the carrying out of these matters, nevertheless,
* Dryburgh Charter, No. 280.

88 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

that two of you can accomplish them. Given on the tenth
of the Kalends of i\pril, at Lyons, in the third year of our
pontificate."

The third year of the pontificate of Innocent IV. was
1243, five years before this deliverance of the delegates.
The deliverance proceeds : " The petition of the said Abbey
and Cbnvent of Dryburgh against the said Eymeric having
been heard concerning the Church of Lauder, which church
the said Abbey and Convent of Dryburgh maintained justly
belonged to their monastery. With the Apostolic Authority
committed to us, we have lawfully summoned parties into
our presence, after a day had been given to those on trial
before the delegates, by law constituted for carefully trying
the case before witnesses, because he (Eymeric) contumaciously
absented himself. We, the divine presence making up for
the absent one, caused witnesses, whom the said Abbey and
Convent of Dryburgh brought forward on their behalf to
prove their own contention, to be examined by men worthy
of credit, and the depositions of the same on trial to be
published, appointing a day for the parties to discuss their
attestations.

" When it appeared quite obvious to us that the conten-
tion of the said Abbey and Convent of Dryburgh had been
clearly proved, both by documents and witnesses without any
exception, the more learned having carefully examined the
merits of the case with the solemnity and order of the law in
all things, and instructed through all things by a council of
lawyers sitting beside us, we, having God before our eyes,
in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, adjudge
the Church of Lauder, with all that belongs to it, to the
Monastery, the Abbey and Convent of Dryburgh, and to the
canons of the same Monastery, and we withdraw the same

THE PARISH KIRK OF LAUDERDALE 89

Church from the said Master Eymeric, and decree that he be
removed from the same, imposing perpetual silence on him.
Concerning the said Church and the said Master Eymeric, we
fine to the extent of lOO merks of silver, and make account-
able to the foresaid Abbey and Convent of Dryburgh, for
expenses incurred in the lawsuit on oath by the same Abbey
for itself and Convent, by its procurator legally appointed,
and for security made by us. The witnesses and sitting
magistrates being Master Vigellus, Canon of Dunkeld, Master
William of Cunynham, Master Alexander of Edinburgh, with
many others."

One should naturally suppose that Lauder priest would
wither from off the earth before such a blast from Pope and
prior. On the contrary, there are signs that he was not
greatly disconcerted, though ultimately compelled to yield.
Who knows but his decease alone settled the question ?
There is some uncertainty as to what really occurred, but
we are assured, on the authority of later charters, that the
noise of the dispute still reverberated between St Andrews
and Dryburgh four years after this deliverance of the
delegates, that is, in 1252. All is silent once more till we
reach the year 1268, when Lauder Church is discovered
without a priest, and arrangements made whereby the priest
of Channelkirk fulfils the double duties of both.

From the above deliverance we learn the important fact
that Dryburgh Abbey claimed the teinds of Lauder Church,
because she claimed the church itself The claim upon the
church of Lauder as belonging to her is therefore the crux of
the whole contention. The Lauder priest stoutly renounces
this assumption. He is under no superior. He stands for
himself, and will not accept supervision. In the charter of
1252 this receives a keener edge in the narrative of debate

90 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

set forth there. It is a long document, and we give as much
of it only as seems to be essential to the elucidation of the
final issue. The chief interest, however, which we have in
it is the light which is thrown upon Channelkirk Church
with reference to its age, as compared with Lauder Church,
and the ecclesiastical position which it occupied at that date
in Lauderdale. The charter is entitled : —

" The Final Settlement concerning the Chapel of Lauder."

After the usual pious salutations and courtesies are set
forth, Eymeric is mentioned, with" a sneer, as "calling himself
rector of Lauder Church, which he unjustly occupies and
forcibly keeps possession of (contra justiciam occupat et
detinet), to the no small injury and detriment of the said
Abbey and Convent " (of Dryburgh). A view of the lawsuit
is then given. Bernard of Cardella is appointed procurator
for Dryburgh Abbey, to act against Eymeric, who has on his
side Theobald of Senon, procurator's clerk, who is substituted
for the late procurator, acting on behalf of Lauder priest.

The procurator, Bernard, in name of Dryburgh canons,
" demands that the said Eymeric be removed from the said
church (of Lauder), and that it be assigned to himself, and,
in order to its restitution, with the revenues derived from
thence, valued at 200 merks, and that Eymeric be sentenced
to a fine. He also demands expenses."

Theobald, procurator for Eymeric, replies by taking the
evidence of witnesses. " I deny," said he, " the things
narrated to be true, as they are narrated, and I maintain that
the demands ought not to be granted." He loudly declares
against Dryburgh Abbey and its procurator, " that since all
the teinds situated in the parish of the said Church of Lauder
by common law belong to Eymeric, in the name of the said
Church, the foresaid Abbey and Convent, contrary to justice.

THE PARISH KIRK OF LAUDERDALE 91

gather the half of all the teinds, greater or less, in certain
villages situated in the said parish of Lauder, namely, from
Pilmuir, from Treburn, from Wittelaw, from the land which
belonged to William of Blendi, from Langald (Langat), from
Tolchus (Tollis), from Welpelawe, from Aldeniston, and from
Burncastel, to the great injury and detriment of the said
rector, although they have no right in the same. Wherefore,
the said rector demands that the said teinds be, in the name
of the said Church, returned and restored to him, or their
worth, which he values at 200 merks. He also demands
that the said pious persons be prevented in future from
gathering up the tithes mentioned, as they ought not, and
that perpetual silence be imposed on the same persons
regarding the foresaid tithes. He demands also the foresaid
things with the expenses incurred or to be incurred, which in
his own time he will declare, and by the aid of the law, keep
safe for himself in all respects."

Bernard, the Dryburgh procurator, rebuts these demands.
Then the narrative proceeds : " The person accountable said,
* I give on oath the award of the law.' Petitions having been
made, and the replies to the same, witnesses having been
brought forward on this side and on that, we have carefully
listened to all that the parties wished to bring forward, and
we have carefully reported these to the Pope, who entrusted
to us, as the organ of his own voice, the declaration of the
sentence.

" We, then, by the special Apostolic Authority which we
exercise in this place, deliberately adjudge the Church of
Lauder to Master William of Lothian (who had deputed the
case to Bernard of Langardale at a later stage of procedure),
present procurator to the Abbey and Convent (of Dryburgh)
in name of the same, and to the Abbey and Convent itself.

95 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

on the ground that, as the Church at Channelkirk which, with
perfect right, looked to the same (Abbey) as though to her
Mother Church, and on this account had been subject to the
same (Abbey) and to the Convent, the same (Channelkirk
Church) giving us (Dryburgh) freedom as regards the teinds
for which the other party (Lauder) sued, when to us it was
clear that the foresaid Church of Channelkirk had been the
Mother and Parish Church of the whole foresaid valley
before the Church of Lauder was founded in that place."

The case is then finally closed : Dryburgh Abbey enters
into full and undisturbed possession of the teinds of all
Lauderdale; Eymeric is cut adrift by law ; and in 1268, as
has been said, Lauder Church is served by the Channelkirk
priest.

The case has every symptom of having been a desperate
one. From words and altercations, process of law had been
called in ; and when Pope and prior were defied by Eymeric,
and Dryburgh Abbey's fulminations rendered nugatory,
force had been attempted, and counter-force employed to
resist it. But the key to the problem seems to be found in
the short sentence about Channelkirk Church having been
" the mother and parish church of the whole valley of Lauder-
dale" contained in the final sentence of the judge or judges,
as quoted ^bove. In order to have a clear view of the
reasons upon which each side founded its claim to Lauder
teinds, it is necessary to view the circumstances from a
broader platform. The case seems to have taken form in
the beginning of the thirteenth century. Parishes were
then fairly well defined. There is abundant documentary
evidence that there were parochial divisions in the preceding
century, but during this inchoative stage, the boundaries of
parishes coincided, as a rule, with the boundaries of estates.

THE PARISH KIRK OF LAUDERDALE 93

In the twelfth century the estate of Hugh de Morville
embraced almost the whole of Lauderdale, as he is said to
grant the site of Dryburgh Abbey, and the Lammermoors
were not his furthest boundary on the north. This state
of matters seems to have continued during his lifetime. It
is in his son Richard's day that we read of divisions of
land in Lauderdale. Consequently, in Hugh de Morville's
time, that is, before A.D. 1162, the reputed year of his
death,* there would be but one estate in Lauderdale, and
this estate would naturally be, as was usual, the bounding
limits of the parish.

Perhaps, also, we should remember that a " parish "
at that time did not mean what we understand by a
"parochia," or parish, now. It had more reference to an
ecclesiastical jurisdiction over certain territory. It was,
to all appearance, a district over which an ecclesiastic
was expected to exercise spiritual supervision. But as
the priest of a church which existed within an estate drew
his emoluments from the general reservoir of its wealth, he
naturally came to extend his supervision over the whole
estate, that is, his parish. And in the case of Channelkirk
Church, it is almost certain that no other church existed
within the area of Hugh de Morville's Lauderdale estate
when he entered upon its possession, nor, indeed, during his
entire lifetime. Channelkirk Church was, therefore, the
acknowledged parish church over the whole valley, that is,
over all De Morville's estate. Our reasons for believing this
rest upon the historical facts that when Dryburgh Abbey was
founded in 1 1 50 by David I., or by Hugh de Morville, or,
probably, conjointly by both, the king grants to it only two
chapels in Lauderdale, viz., St Leonard's and Caddesley, but
* Chronica de Mailros.

94 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

no church. Again, when Hugh de Morville wearies of the
world and seeks to clothe himself in the monk's habit ; when
he retires, in short, to the Abbey of Dryburgh to end his days
in the odour of sanctity, on the same day in which he enters,
he presents Channelkirk Church, with its land and pertinents,
to the abbot and monks of that monastery. There is no
mention of Lauder Church being in existence in Hugh de
Morville's time, and if there had been such a church in
existence, the natural inference would be that he or King
David would have rather given it to the monastery, than the
more parsimonious gifts of chapels and a church of less worth.
We are aware that Chalmers, in his Caledonia, has said (vol.
ii., p. 221), "From him (King David I.), Hugh Moreville
obtained Lauder, with its territory, on the Leader water.
Like the other great settlers, Hugh Moreville, having obtained
a district, built a castle, a church, a miln, and a brewhouse,
for the convenience of his followers." * This would make
Hugh de Morville the founder of Lauder Church, and its date
as a consequence would fall between cir. 1 130 and 1 162. But
Chalmers gives no authority, and, so far as we know, there is
no mention of a church being in Lauder earlier than cir. 1170
or 1 1 80 A.D. This occurs in a charter given by Richard de
Morville, son and successor of Hugh, " to the brethren of the
hospital of Lauder," Richard died in 1189. "William de
Morville, my son : Avicia, my wife : Herbert : Dr Thomas :
Clement, my chaplain : Alan de Thirlestane : Henry de
Sinclair (Carfrae) : Peter de Haig (Bemensyde) : Thomas, the
writer, and others," are witnesses to this charter, although
there is no seal. Russell, in his Haigs of Beinersyde, gives the

* M'Gibbon and Ross, in their Ecclesiastical Architecture of Scotland,
have relied on Chalmers' words, in their short notice of Lauder in the
third volume of that work.

THE PARISH KIRK OF LAUDERDALE 95

date of this charter as cir. 1180, which would place the first
mention of Lauder Church ten years later.

Therefore, when Hugh de Morville died, it can be easily
understood that the Dryburgh monks, having received from
him the Church of Channelkirk, would also claim all the
tithes within its spiritual jurisdiction. His having founded
Kilwinning Abbey seems to have raised some hopes there
also of obtaining a share of his wealth, and St Andrews,
as metropolis of the diocese which included Lauderdale and
Dryburgh Abbey within its pale, had equally with others an
interest in the tithes from the De Morville lands. The
Dryburgh claim is clearly based on the fact that Channelkirk
Church, having been the mother and parish church of the
whole valley before Lauder Church was founded there, and
the same church having been gifted to them, they had ipso
facto the prior claim to all it carried with it. " The grant of
"a church" was often very valuable. It carried with it all
the parochial rights, all the tithes of the parish, all the dues
paid at the altar and at the cemetery, the manse and the
glebe, and all lands belonging to the particular church." * The
Church of Lauder had, doubtless, been founded by Richard
de Morville, perhaps in consideration of the pious memory ol
his great father. And, according to the usual custom, he
had endowed it with the lands which later on came into the
possession of Andrew de Moray, and which, with exception
of Pilmuir, Trabroon, and Whitelaw, all lie along the eastern
slopes of Upper Lauderdale, having centrality somewhere
about Longcroft. As long as the De Morvilles remained in
the valley, the priest of Lauder Church would have little
trouble in uplifting his tithes from these lands. Richard
seems to have had strong blood in him, and doubtless would
* The Church of Scotland, vol. iv., p. 43, 1890.

96 , HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

rule his gifts as he wished, independent of Pope or abbot.
He had no warm affection, either, for the Bishop of St
Andrews' domination, which he would meet constantly in
respect of Lauder Church being under that diocese. Prior
John of that see excommunicated him, no less, as a dis-
turber of the peace between himself and the king, and it may,
indeed, have been this very matter of Lauder tithes which
was the chief bone of contention between them. The monks
of Melrose also had pulled him through a judicial controversy
on account of the woods and lands between Gala and Leader,
and the proud heart of the turbulent baron, who had led the
Scots in many a battle, and had been liostage for the
captured King William at Falaise in 1 174, would doubtless
have little love for monks in general, and rather delight
maybe in resenting and resisting their interference in a dale
where he was paramount in all other concerns. But 1189
ended all his contentions, and his son, William, the last of the
De Morvilles in Lauderdale, passed away not long afterwards
in 1 196, and with other proprietors who lived far from the
banks of the Leader, and with many masters to question his
rights, where before he had had but one whose hand was
ready to befriend him, the Lauder priest would find his
position more and more isolated, the complaint of Dryburgh
monks louder and more pressing, until, as we have seen, his
stipend had to be uplifted by force and retained by the same
ungentle method. His brave resistance is amply attested,
Eymeric (or Imrie, as we perhaps should style him nowa-
days), was a good guarantee that the Protestant Reformation
was possible ! And so far as they went, and as he read the
law, and perhaps as we should judge now, his rights to his
tithes were undoubtedly good. He was somewhat in advance
of the then ecclesiastical practice, and would not admit that

THE PARISH KIRK OF LAUDERDALE 97

Hugh de Morville's gift of Channelkirk Church carried with
it also that superiority over the teinds which in area was con-
terminous in De Morville's day with its spiritual jurisdiction
or " parish," including thereby all Lauderdale. But it is just
as certain that the monks of Dryburgh had good legal
foundation and sanction for the same reason in not only
claiming Lauder tithes but also Lauder Church, as being
within their bounds, and the Pope and his subordinates
stood upon this ground, and enforced respect for it. It was
a case where the new and the old conflicted, the new necessity
rearing its head against the old prerogative. A church was
set up and endowed within the ecclesiastical jurisdiction, and
fed out of the endowments of another church, and the new
church independently disregarded and defied the rights of the
old. So Lauder burgh seems to have sprung up in the
midst of the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of Channelkirk — at that
time given over to Dryburgh Abbey — in much the same way
that Edinburgh rose within that of St Cuthbert's parish, and
Aberdeen within that of Old Machar. There were many
such cases, and corresponding disputes usually accompanied
the change regarding tithes, fees, and privileges. Perhaps
the fixing of the parish boundaries, with less reference than
formerly to the boundaries of an estate, had something to
do with the misunderstanding. In Eymeric's day, Lauder
parish seems to have had generally the same conformation
that it has to-day. The places mentioned as yielding the
disputed teinds, viz., Trabroon, Pilmuir, Whitelaw, Tollis,
Langat, Whelplaw, Addinston, Burncastle, give a very in-
telligible outline, on its north side at least, of the present
parish of Lauder. If the parish was so fixed at that time,
it follows that the parish of Channelkirk was correspondingly
limited, and on this ground Eymeric may have felt himself

98 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

justified in uplifting the teinds from his own parish, although,
on the other hand, the Dryburgh monks did not seem to
be able to regard the new changes with sufficient esteem, so
as to relinquish the interest which Hugh de Morville's gift
of Channelkirk Church had given them in all the ancient
parochial rights and dues which its accepted priority of age
and pious connection with St Cuthbert had given it in all
Lauderdale. That great and sweeping changes were being
effected at this time there can be no doubt. All property
was placed on a new basis by the new rulers from England
and Normandy, and church government was entirely re-
volutionised, war and suppression being the order of the
day, the old Celtic church illustrating once more the words
of the ancient bard, " His race came forth in their years ;
they came forth to war, but they always fell." But, without
hesitation, we lay the heaviest burden of the fifty years'
strife on the shoulders of Sir Richard de Morville. All
the circumstances point to him as the original instigator.
Proud, imperious, and quarrelsome, a favourite with the
king, and occupying the highest office in the kingdom, he
would ill brook the sinister influence of priests in his
affairs. On every side he was at daggers drawn with them,
though in his closing days he was glad to find grace and a
home in Melrose monastery like his father before him.*
Dryburgh and Melrose on the south, Glasgow and Kilwinning
in the west, and, fiercest of all, St Andrews on the north.
The chaplains or priests of Lauder Church would, in these
circumstances be cradled and nursed in the spirit and habits
of mutiny. They could scarcely resist the contaminating
atmosphere of insurrection created by him. And when,
in defiance of all authority, Eymeric held his church and

* Mon, Annals^ p. 263.

THE PARISH KIRK OF LAUDERDALE 99

teinds by force, he was only emulating the irascible lord who
seems never to have permitted considerations of a safe neck
to baulk the regal instincts of his will. Moreover, the lords
of Galloway who followed the De Morvilles, and were, doubt-
less, contemporaries of Eymeric, were not likely to be less
despotic.

Thus, with the powerful help of Rome and St Andrews,
the canons of Dryburgh vindicated their rights to the ad-
vowson of Lauder Church. John de Balliol had asserted at
one stage of the law case, that he had been appointed patron
to Lauder Church,* but, of course, after the final sentence
which removed Eymeric, any such pretension on his part,
either to interpose in his behalf, or prefer another priest in
his room, was useless. Nevertheless, we find him, in 1268,
gracefully resigning what could no longer be retained, and in
this way the legal features of the case compose themselves
quite becomingly to the inevitable trend of the circum-
stances.-f- " The whole right and claim which we (viz., John
de Balliol, for ourselves, our spouse Devorgilla, and our
heirs) have, or can have in the right of the patronage of the
same Church " (of Lauder), " is given into the hands of the
Venerable in Christ, Lord Gameline, Bishop of St Andrews,"
although a suggestive clause is added after the resignation of
" the whole right and claims," viz., " as far as they belonged to
us." This resignation is carefully noted and carried forward
with much dignity through Charters 9, 10, li, in the year
1268 ; and in dr. 1269, Charter 12 tells us that Lauder Church
is quit-claimed " for six chaplains." In that year Balliol dies,
and in ctr. 1270 (Charter 13), Lady Balliol, "in her widowhood,"
confirms her late husband's deeds of resignation. She herself
dies in 1290.

* Charter 279. f Charters 9, 10, 11.

100 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

It is in the same year, 1268, that we learn that provision
had been made whereby Channelkirk priest should " make
obedience " for Lauder Church as well as for his own (Charters
40, 41). "But the vicar who shall serve in the Church of
Childinchirch, otherwise Childenkirk, and who, moreover,
shall officiate in the Church of Childenkirk as well as in the
Chapel of Lauder, shall receive from the forenamed Abbey and
Convent ten pounds sterling yearly, at the two forenamed terms
of the year (Pentecost and Martinmas), and the said Abbey
and Convent shall endeavour that the said Chapel be carefully
attended to by two honourable chaplains. And it is to be
known that the said Abbey and Convent will bear all burdens,
ordinary and extraordinary, belonging to the said churches
from which the said vicars will be free," etc. These arrange-
ments exist onwards into the year 13 18, with the difference
that in the charter of that date (No. 293), the Abbey and
Convent promise that " the said Chapel (of Lauder) shall be
carefully attended to by one honourable chaplain " instead of
two.

Perhaps a few words on this relationship which existed for
so many years between Channelkirk and Lauder may not be
out of place here, seeing that it has been the cause of some
little disagreement between two of Lauder ministers, and is
variously interpreted by the people of the two parishes. Dr
James Ford, minister at Lauder, when writing the record of
his parish for the Old Statistical Account in 1791, makes the
following remark : " The Church of Lauder was originally a
chapel of ease to Channelkirk or Childer's kirk, being dedi-
cated to the Holy Innocents. At the Reformation Lauder
was made a parochial charge." This evokes a sharp re-
joinder from the Rev. Peter Cosens, who in 1833 writes the
notice of Lauder Church and parish for the New Statistical

THE PARISH KIRK OF LAUDERDALE 101.

Account. He retorts: "There, is no reason whatev.er tp
suppose that the Church of Lauder was originally a chapd of
ease attached to Channelkirk, and that it was not raised to
the dignity of a church till the era of the Reformation ; for,
in the oldest records it is represented as a separate church.
In the ancient taxation it was valued at 90 merks and that
of Channelkirk only at 40." Neither minister gives his
authorities, except a general reference to " old records," and
in such brief space as the Statistical Accounts could afford,
we should, perhaps, hardly expect any other. There are
evidently two points involved here, viz., Was Lauder Church
originally a " chapel of ease " icapelld) to Channelkirk ? and.
Was Lauder Church in possession of the dignity of a church
{ecclesia) before the Reformation ? Perhaps if we consider
the latter question first, the former may be of easier solution.
. Referring to Mr Cosen's statement that " in the oldest
records it is represented as a separate church," if we are
permitted to strike out the word "separate," the assertion
must be admitted to be correct. In the charter which is
given by Richard de Morville to the brethren of the hospital
of Lauder about the years 11 70 or 11 80, the "ecclesie de
Louueder" is distinctly mentioned. But the charter itself
does not emanate from ecclesiastical authorities : authorities,
that is, sufficiently competent to give any weight to such a
canonical status. It comes from Richard de Morville, who
himself was excommunicated, and was at feud with all the
religious houses around him. Besides, among the witnesses
to this charter is " Clement, my chaplain." Now, before this
same time we have in connection with Legerwood, " John,
the priest" and, likewise, " Godfrey, the priest" in connection
with Channelkirk. But in the case of the Lauder official, it is
a chaplaincy which always gives its title to that personage.

aQ2 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

Tru&, this may merely point to the family chapel of the
) ••■..': i)e'Morvilles. If so, then no mention is made of a priest
being in Lauder Church till the name of Chapel is also
attached to it. When Lauder Church comes to be de-
nominated by proper ecclesiastical authorities, it is some-
times defined as an ecclesia (church), or capella (chapel).
One charter, for example, will define it by both terms. This
is in the first half of the thirteenth century, during a length
of seventy years after Richard de Morville's charter. Again,
fully sixty years after this doubtful state of matters, we have
the same sinister expression, capella de Lawder. In the
year 1318, when Channelkirk and Lauder are last seen in the
charters side by side under one minister, the use and wont
phrase is repeated, " the vicar of Channelkirk shall make
obedience as well for the Church of Childenkirk as for the
Chapel of Lauder " {pro ecclesia de Childenkirk quam pro
capella de Lawder). The said chapel {dicte capelle) is also to
be served by " one honourable chaplain " {per unum honestum
capellanum). The minister of Lauder (Mr Cosens) is there-
fore somewhat justified in saying, in 1833, that "in the oldest
records it is represented as a separate Church," but he has not,
it seems to us, weighed sufficiently the circumstances in which
the oldest records, i.e., the charter of Richard de Morville,
was given, and also the uncanonical status of those who in that
charter call the then place of worship in Lauder a " Church."
That it was "separate" as a church was, of course, the
matter in dispute between Eymeric and Dryburgh monks.
Eymeric maintained its patronate constitution with the right
to call himself rector and uplift the whole teinds with only
regard for his patron, whereas the monks of Dryburgh dis-
avowed the patronate and maintained the patrimonial consti-
tution of Lauder Church, whereby the whole teinds belonged

THE PARISH KIRK OF LAUDERDALE 103

to the bishop, and the Abbey of Dryburgh within his diocese,
as well as the right to appoint any one to serve the cure at
his discretion. In discussing this question, moreover, it is
proper that we should bear in mind the distinction which is
made between the Protestant and Roman Catholic status of
a " Church." No place of worship can have the status of a
church under the Roman Catholic hierarchy, unless it has
been dedicated, or consecrated, by a bishop. And there is
nothing to show that the Church of Lauder was ever so con-
secrated. When Bishop de Bernham of St Andrews conse-
crates Channelkirk, Stow, Earlston, Legerwood, and Gordon,
he passes by Lauder. Between 1240 and 1250 he wanders
over all Scotland dedicating churches, but he never touches
at Lauder. If it had been a " Church " of undoubted
canonical status before this period the charters would not
have ventured afterwards to characterise it as a "Chapel."
So far, therefore, as the weight of ecclesiastical authority is
concerned (and regarding the status of a church, we do not
think any other authority is admissible by comparison), the
truth of facts thus far supports the view of Dr Ford rather
than that of Mr Cosens.

Our first question, which we now treat secondly, viz.,
Was Lauder Church originally a chapel of ease to Channel-
kirk ? seems easier to answer. Perhaps the term " chapel
of ease" in this connection is not quite applicable. We
have seen that the place of worship at Lauder in the twelfth,
thirteenth, and fourteenth centuries, conforms more in its
canonical status to a "Chapel" than to a "Church." It appears
to be evident, also, that it was subordinate to the Church of
Channelkirk for more reasons than one. There is no evidence
that Lauder Church underwent any degradation on account
of its priest's conduct. The status he sought to claim for it

104 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

was simply never allowed. He claimed to be under a patron,
yiz., the successors of Richard de Morville, who, until his
suspension, must have been William de Morville, Roland of
Galloway, Allan, his son, and John de Balliol. This claim
was not sustained for the reasons that by priority of age and
on account of the parochial jurisdiction over the whole valley
possessed by Channelkirk Church previous to Hugh de
Morville's time, and sustained by him until his gift of it' and
all its pertinents to Dryburgh Abbey, the " Church " or
" Chapel " of Lauder had no right to teinds in the valley
unless it had first received them from Channelkirk Church.
If, indeed, Lauder Church had possessed teinds of its own,
and these not forcibly possessed, it must have been an
ecclesia or church, for no mere chapel possessed teinds.
But its right of teinds was disallowed by the highest
authorities, or to put it in the words of a distinguished
Professor of Church History, " If Channelkirk was the
original church of the valley, and Lauder is found at a later
date entitled to teinds, these must have been gifted to it
by Channelkirk, or derived from lands not previously teinded."
Channelkirk was undoubtedly the original church of the
valley of Lauderdale, and Lauder is not found later or
earlier entitled to teinds of any kind, except those which
Eymeric held by force, but which Dryburgh claimed. And
Dryburgh Abbey claimed these teinds because, having
received from Hugh de Morville the Church of Channelkirk
with all its lands, rights, and pertinents, which it possessed
" before the Church of Lauder was founded in that place " ;
and Channelkirk Church having made the Abbey "free as
regards the teinds which Lauder sued for {absolventes eosdem
super decimis quas pars altera petebat) ; therefore, all the teinds
and rights whatsoever which Lauder might claim to possess,

THE PARISH KIRK OF LAUDERDALE 105

together with that "Church" or "Chapel" itself, belonged
legally to the Abbot of the Abbey. That dignitary was
thus able to make good his position in all the courts in
virtue of Channelkirk Church having satisfied the following
necessary conditions: i. Priority of foundation ; 2. primary
possession of the parochial jurisdiction of the whole valley ;
3. personally and permanently bequeathed to Dryburgh
Abbey by the person who alone could confer it ; 4. final
consent of the Church itself. We must further state the fact
that this arrangement was maintained as far as we have
historical accounts to assure us, viz., till the year 1318, and
there is no evidence to show that it was altered till the
period of the Reformation. Dryburgh Abbey, the Bishop
of St Andrews, and the Popes of Rome, on these ecclesiastical
grounds, wrenched Lauder " Church " or " Chapel " out of the
hands of Lauder landowners and Lauder priest, together with
all it held, and they kept it. Two hundred and forty-two
years elapse between 13 18 and 1560, and it is quite possible
that other arrangements may have been made for Lauder
Church. But we can only conjecture. There is no record,
and we cannot place much stress upon the mention of
ecdesia in connection with Lauder Church during the
years between 13 18 and the Reformation, as the language of
courtesy as well as of use and wont may have confirmed
that designation. It is not to be supposed that there would
be any formal erection of Lauder into a parish at that time,
as its outgrowth of Channelkirk long before in population,
wealth, and influence, would accomplish that result in-
dependently. The start which Lauder made in history
as a burgh, and the progress it showed, seems to have
been far more fortunate in results than anything its church
has to record, prior to Protestant times.

CHAPTER IV

THE MINISTERS AND THEIR TIMES

Before the Reformation.

Godfrey, the Priest — Cuthbert and the Holy Water Cleuch — The First
Minister in Channelkirk and Lauderdale — The First Church —
Cuthbert's Fame — Five Hundred Years of Historical Darkness —
Channelkirk Priest in the Twelfth Century — Papal Taxation — King
Edward I. in Lauderdale — The Priests Serving Channelkirk and
Lauder — Troublous Times — Lauder Brig — Moorhousland and
Lauderdale — Social Life in the Fifteenth Century — Corruption of
Church and Clergy — Reformation.

In attempting to give some account of the ministers who
through so many centuries, and under various religious forms,
have professed to raise the minds of the people of Channel-
kirk towards eternal things, it is, perhaps, needless to say
that the greater number of these must remain unnamed and
unknown, and of the few whose names have come down to
us, only the most meagre sketch can be given. It does not
appear that any of the number, with perhaps one or two
exceptions, ever rose to such prominence, either in ecclesi-
astical or secular affairs, as to earn high historical distinction.
Few, indeed, are the occasions in the parish's history which
are so stirring, or so fiery as to light up the twilight gloom
that veils from our sight the actors who from generation
to generation moved across its boundaries. Before the

THE MINISTERS AND THEIR TIMES 107

Protestant era the name of one person and one only who can
be officially called a presbyter or priest in Channelkirk Church
has filtered down to us through the hard stratum of the
charters. And even he seems to be mentioned by a kind of
accident. Richard de Morville (1165-89), in confirming to
Dryburgh Abbey his gifts of Berwick fishings and the
tithes of Lauder and Salton mills,* casually mentions that
Channelkirk in his father's time was held by Godfrey the
priest.

But before the time of this " Godefridus presbyter," there
must have been several priests in Channelkirk. There seems
to be no doubt that a church existed there long before the
time of Hugo de Moreville. We have seen that the author
of Caledonia deems it not improbable that a place of worship
may have been in existence there during the Celtic period,
or before the sixth century. With Bede's account before us,
and that of the Cocevus Monachus^ both of whom relate
Cuthbert's religious awakening by the banks of the Leader,
and his subsequent missionary journeys among the Lammer-
moor hills, we confidently claim Cuthbert as a minister to
the Channelkirk people as early at least as the middle of the
seventh century. Whether or not some rude form of a
place of worship might then exist on the spot where now a
church has stood for so long it were rash to assert, but there
are certain indications that some particular place, specially
marked as consecrated to religious rites, was then a local
possession. It is well known, for instance, that, even in
pagan times, fountains and wells were closely associated with
the worship of the people. This form of veneration lost
nothing by the introduction of Christianity. On the contrary,
if the sainted propagators of the gospel faith found them
* Dryburgh Charter, No. 8.

108 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

convenient for baptismal purposes, and, not unfrequently,
they did so find them, then, as a consequence, the pious
feelings of the inhabitants of such a district were deepened
with an increased intensity.* Everywhere pagan " means of
grace " were utilised by Christians, and set into their more
enlightened ceremonials. Says a distinguished Scottish
historian "f* : "It may be gathered from other sources that a
considerable portion of that pagan magic influence, which it
was desirable to supersede, resided in fountains ; but at the
same time, the first ceremony of conversion being the rite
of baptism, is sufficient in itself to account for the extensive
consecration of fountains." We believe we have such a
consecrated fountain in the " Holy Water Cleuch." This
place, so styled yet by the inhabitants of the district, lies
but a few hundred yards directly west from the Church, and
its cooling waters still flow fresh and pleasant, and are grate-
fully prized by both man and beast. The first mention of it
which we have been able to discover is, indeed, long subse-
quent to the days of St Cuthbert. It is given in 1588 as the
western boundary of the " Sucken " of the Kirklands of
Channelkirk, in a charter granted by King James VI. to
James Cranstoun, son to Robert Cranstoun of " Faluod-
scheill " (Fowlshiels, Selkirk). If it was so well known in the
year 1588, and so well established as to serve as a boundary
to legal rights and privileges, we may draw the reasonable
inference that its origin must have been even then deeply
buried in the traditions of the parish. Nor does it seem that
any religious or ecclesiastical event, occurring between that
period and the days of St Cuthbert's ministrations, can be
legitimately regarded as prominent or important enough to

* Origines Parochtales, vol. i., pref. xxii.

t Hill Burton — History of Scotlaiid^ vol. i., p. 220,

THE MINISTERS AND THEIR TIMES 109

warrant us in supposing that the creation and consecration
of the name of the fountain, and its preservation by the
people, have later or weaker associations than those which
gather round the Church itself. The tradition current
among the people is, perhaps, the correct one, viz., that
Cuthbert baptized his converts there when he was wont
to visit the dwellers " in the mountains, calling back to
heavenly concerns these rustic people, by the word of his
preaching as well as by his example of virtue." * This was a
common practice in his times. Bede, for example, tells us
that further south, over the Cheviots, among the Northum-
brians, about the time when Cuthbert would be born. Bishop
Paulinus " from morning till night did nothing else but
instruct the people resorting from all villages and places in
Christ's saving word ; and, when instructed, he washed them
with the water of absolution in the River Glen (River Bowent),
which is close by." f

But was Cuthbert the first minister of the gospel in
Channelkirk ? Was there not an earlier than he ? We are
led to ask these questions by the following considerations.
Cuthbert is said to have been "always inflamed with the
desire of a religious Vife/rom his very childhood" \ This dis-
position may have been one of the causes that led his
guardians to commit him, when a boy, to the care of a certain
religious inan^ in Lothian [cuidam Lodonico religioso coinmittunt
viro) ; and as we are told that the place in Lothian was
afterwards called Childeschirche in honour of Cuthbert, we
infer that this " pious man " lived at the village or hamlet

* Bede's Vita S. Cud., chap. ix.

t Ecclesiastical History, Book II., chap. xiv.

X Bede's Ecclesiastical History, Book IV., chap, xxvii.

§ Libellus de Ortu Sancti Cuthberti, chap, xxiii.

110 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

which was subsequently called Childeschirche, on account of
the Church dedicated to his youthful illustrious protege.
This pious guardian of the boy Cuthbert must surely have
had a religious fame strong enough to point him out as a
proper instructor for such a boy, and it is permissible to
suppose that his name for sanctity was not gained by his
private devotions alone. With the bold zeal which seems to
have characterised pilgrims and preachers of that age, this
" religious man in Lothian " would, doubtless, in some public
way, seek to gain his fellowmen to the new faith, and either
his success, or perhaps proximity to the camp or fort, or the
nearness of the well or fountain (which may have had
reverence paid it before Cuthbert's time), may have led him
to make the original village of Channelkirk his centre of
operations, and home. If these probabilities be allowed to
add any weight to the little we know concerning him, then
the first minister of Channelkirk, for all historical purposes,
would be this " religious man in Lothian," and his time would
naturally fall about A.D. 625.

But at such a distance of time all is necessarily dim and
shadowy to the view. We have, at most, vague outlines
of even national movements, and the condition and kind
of life which such a pious teacher of the people would lead
in the retired district of Upper Lauderdale must, of course,
remain totally obscure. Certain historical facts are never-
theless somewhat luminous to us in a general way. The
people of the valley were a mixture of Picts and Angles,
the conquered and the conquerors, and generally, Christians
and pagans. The Angles would be in a minority though
the most powerful, but the mass of the population would be
Celts and slaves. In the time of this "pious man of
Lothian," the southern boundaries of Lothian stretched

THE MINISTERS AND THEIR TIMES 111

to the Cheviots, and the Province of the Bernicians * in-
cluded Haddingtonshire and Berwickshire within its pale.
Christianity made its way then chiefly by the conversion
of kings whose faith all who were under their dominion were
expected to adopt, and, consequently, it had a vacillating
fortune which rose and fell with the political powers which
for the time being held the ascendant. Under King ^Eduin
and Bishop Paulinus, e.g., the Christian faith from 627
.seemed to flourish and grow vigorously, but this enlightened
period was suddenly darkened again by a pagan revolution
under the Anglic King Penda and the apostate Welsh King
Ceadwalla. Again the sun shone forth in the reign of
King Oswald, who established the Columban Church in
Northumbria in 635 ; and the permanent conversion to
Christianity of the Angles of the eastern districts between
the Tweed and F'orth, that is, Berwickshire and East Lothian,
is due to him. But if permanency in the work was due
to King Oswald, there are indications that shortly before
him there were pioneers in the same field. Skene says,"f"
"Tradition seems to indicate that the Cumbrian Church
did play a part in the conversion of their Anglic neighbours ;
and the Angles occupying the district between the Tweed
and Forth, being more immediately within their reach and
coming directly in contact with them, may have owed their
conversion to one who was of the satne race as Kenligern.''
Channelkirk lies almost midway between these bounding
waters, and Skene's suggestion gives us liberty to believe
that more than King Oswald's missionaries were at work
about this time evangelising the south of Scotland, and
that the " religious man in Lothian " who took charge of

♦ Celtic Scotland, vol. ii., p. 198.
t Ibid., p. 199,

112 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

the boy Cuthbert at Childeschirche may have played a
not unworthy part in disseminating divine truth among at
least the denizens of the Lammermoors. Inferior names
naturally fall into the shade before the more brilliant light
of those who are superior, and, indeed, are sometimes only
preserved to sight by the latter, yet while it must be ad-
mitted that this is the case as regards Cuthbert and his
guardian, the latter, both by character and the confidence
reposed in him by Cuthbert's relatives, proves his right to
deserve respect as one of the heralds of a permanent
Christian religion in Lothian. Whatever view be held,
it seems to remain certain at least that as far as Channel-
kirk is concerned, the person of this " religious man," who
appears to have resided there about the second decade of
the seventh century, connects in the earliest historical way
the existence of the Christian religion with the valley of the
Leader. It is also possible that his work and influence
there, supplemented and overshadowed as it afterwards was
by his more saintly and illustrious pupil, may have laid the
foundation of the claim which was subsequently sustained
by the monks of Dryburgh Abbey about 1 248, that Childin-
chirch was originally "the mother and parish church of the
whole valley."

Regarding St Cuthbert, who may be considered justly
as the second person in the historical succession of Channel-
kirk ministers, it is unnecessary to narrate here once more
the story of his illustrious life, seeing that it has been
told again and again by the ablest pens from the days of
the Venerable Bede downwards. Some account of him is
to be found in every history which touches the early
development of the Christian Church in Scotland. When
we have perused the Vita, which Bede wrote specially

THE MINISTERS AND THEIR TIMES 113

concerning him, together with his more disconnected yet
sympathetic narrative of Cuthbert in his Ecclesiastic History^
and Dr Wm. F. Skene's notice in his Celtic Scotland^ we
have exhausted nearly all that is to be known of the great
Apostle of southern Scotland, and both comprehensively
and in detail, with the largest faith and the justest criticism,
have seen all that is worthy of perusal and respect in his
life set forth with the highest literary ability. All that
connects him with Channelkirk has been already quoted
in other parts of these pages, and both from the fact that
when Bede links him to any locality whatever, "he was
keeping watch over the flocks committed to his charge on
some remote mountains," which historians, such as Skene,
Green, and Chalmers, have no difficulty in identifying
as the Lammermoors, and also the traditions which have
come down to us in prose, poetry, and oral forms, we believe
that his place among the ministers of Channelkirk parish
to be reasonably sustained, and we need hardly assert further
that in all ways he is also the greatest of them. It may,
indeed, be a unique instance in Scotland that a Church
should be dedicated to a boy saint, but this seems only to
give added strength to the chronicles which persistently
associate Cuthbert's boyhood with us as the principal fact
of his relation to this parish. Of course " Childe " may
equally well refer to his youth, and point to his shepherding
time.

At what date after the death of St Cuthbert a church
was founded at Channelkirk in his honour it must now
remain a matter of conjecture. That event occurred on the
20th day of March 687, and throughout the country his
memory was preserved with the utmost fervour of devotion.

* Celtic Scotland^ vol. ii., pp. 201-225, et passim.

114 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

His marvellous asceticism impressed the popular mind to
a powerful extent, and as in his life he was famed for his zeal
and eloquence, so after his death his bones were considered
holy, his flesh incorruptible, and " the very garments which
had been on his body were not exempt from the virtue of
performing cures."* As he had been instrumental in diffusing
the knowledge of the Gospel throughout both Scottish and
English territory, when his death took place enthusiasm rose
high ; many churches were dedicated to him ; and probably
one district at least, Kirkcudbright, named after him.
Nothing could prove more conclusively how widely his
memory was venerated. It was also a time of deep religious
conviction. Bede, casting a comprehensive glance over his
time (731), says: "Such being the peaceable and calm dis-
position of the times, many of the Northumbrians, as well
of nobility as private persons, laying aside their weapons,
rather incline to dedicate both themselves and their children
to the tonsure and monastic vows, than to study martial
discipline." •!• In such a time of pious stirring, it is not
likely that Cuthbert's memory would be forgotten in Upper
Lauderdale, although it is quite impossible to venture the
least surmise as to the precise date when the inhabitants
of that district resolved to found a church and call it the
Child's Church, or Childeschirche. One may naturally
suppose that it would be done when the enthusiasm for his
name was running high shortly after his decease, but nothing
definite can be asserted. All is left in profound darkness,
and the gloom does not merely rest over the ecclesiastical
affairs of Channelkirk, but extends over the whole country.
For the period between the seventh and twelfth centuries

* Bede's Ecclesiastical History , Book IV., chap. xxxi.
t Ibid.^ Book V., chap, xxiii., Giles' Translation.

THE MINISTERS AND THEIR TIMES 115

there is but a scintillation of light. " If it be somewhat
astounding," says Hill Burton,* "to reflect on so enormous
a blank in the annals of a nation's religion, it is perhaps
reassuring — it is certainly a matter of great interest in itself —
that during that long period of obscurity Christianity lived
on. Not only the faith itself lived — though, as we shall see,
not always in great purity— but it managed to engraft itself
with substantial temporal institutions, which gave it solidity.
In fact, when the church comes to light again, it is with a
hierarchy and organisation of its own, the origin and forma-
tion of which, as all grew quietly in the dark, have put at
defiance the learning and acuteness of our best antiquaries
to account for." When Channelkirk Church {ecdesid) first
emerges into historical light in the pages of the charters,
about 1 1 50, it is not as one newly founded, but with an air of
long settlement. Its own lands lie around it, and there is a
regular priest serving the incumbency who has a competent
maintenance assured to him from its endowments. It
possesses, in fact, that " solidity " which was acquired from
its being " engrafted with substantial temporal institutions,"
and is clearly under the " hierarchy and organisation " of
the Roman Catholic Church. It would appear also that at
this time no other place of worship with the status of an
ecclesia existed in Lauderdale as far as historical documents
seem to guide us. It is also the " solidity " of its settlement
which leads us to believe that its origin must date from a
period long anterior to the time when it becomes visible
in the charters, and perhaps if we place it between the
seventh and ninth centuries, a time when, it is deemed, many
churches sprang into existence, we shall not be accused of
rashly outraging the probabilities which He latent in the
* History of Scotland^ vol. i., p. 390. Second Edition, 1873.

116 THE HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

facts of its history. Knowing, as we do, the popular
enthusiasm that burned around the memory of St Cuthbert
wherever his voice had been heard or his footsteps had
wandered, kno\ying also that in these dark centuries the tribal
community held all the land in common, a remnant of which
system still retains its hold in our valley, it is not too much
to suppose that a common devotion would gladly make a
common sacrifice of labour and land sufficient to rear a
church in his honour, and maintain a qualified preacher of
the Word. It was in 1 107 that Earl David, afterwards
David I., came into possession of Lauderdale, and disposed
it to the Norman Baron Hugo de Morville, who thereby came
into possession of the advowson of Channelkirk Church
probably about 11 30. In the charters which define the gifts
of Hugo to Dryburgh Abbey and Convent, Channelkirk
Church is often, mentioned as his gift to it, but there is no
trace whatever of his having gifted land to Channelkirk
Church either in support of its priest or for any other
purpose. Nor is it said that any of the family of the De
Morvilles ever gave land to Channelkirk Church at any
time. But there are distinct statements made of the church
possessing land in the time of the first of the De Morvilles,
and we naturally conclude that the church had been endowed
with land before the De Morvilles received it from David I.,
and that they had found the church settled and endowed
on their coming into Lauderdale. The fact also, it may
be pointed out in passing, that the church was fully equipped
and endowed at such a time when the affairs of the country
were in such transition, and also considering that such a
church existed in such a hilly and inaccessible situation, and
not on the more open and convenient ground further down
the valley, is to us further evidence that more than ordinary

THE MINISTP:RS and their times 117

causes must have co-operated to fix the church in that spot,
and give it such consolidation so early. Following the view
of Professor Innes, we are perhaps safe in assuming for
Channelkirk what he asserts with regard to the possessions
of the See of Glasgow,* viz., that its endowments must
have been made in very early times, seeing that during
the dark periods of confusion and anarchy which immediately
preceded the reign of David I. it is not probable that the
church received any accession of property.

It is nearly a century and a half after these political and
ecclesiastical changes have passed over the country that we
meet with the name of the first minister of Channelkirk,
who is officially designated " presbyter " or priest. It occurs
in Charter 8 of the Regis truin de Dry burgh. It must have
been a short time after the year 1 162 when Hugh de Morville
died. Richard, his son, is confirming his father's gift of
Channelkirk to that Abbey, and, as we have noted above,
after handing over the fishings of Berwick and the tithes of
Lauder and Salton Mills to the brethren there, he says :
" Besides, I concede, I confirm to the same church my
father's donations, which, with himself, he gave to the same
brethren, namely, the Church of Childenchirch with all those
pertinents with which Godfrey, the priest, held it on the
day in which my father assumed the canonical habit."

It is curious to reflect on the miscellaneous racial com-
position of a parish's foundations upon which the modern
superstructure rests. Here the Danish-descended Godfrey
fills the office of spiritual guide to a composite population of
Celts and Angles, while the proud Norman lords it over the
territory and gives gifts from it at his will. This charter
also gives outline to a fact which does not seem to be
* Origines Parochiales, pref. xxiv.

118 THE HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

generally known, viz., that Hugo de Morville, after leading a
chequered career in royal courts and battlefields, quietly laid
aside his soldier's armour and entered Dryburgh Abbey to
die in the odour of sanctity. On the day when he dons the
dress of the monks, it is interesting to note that he bears
in his hand the gift of Channelkirk with all its land and
pertinents. This, of course, was not an unusual occurrence.
There is an evident reference to another charter which is
now lost concerning the gift of Channelkirk Church. In the
first charter with which Dryburgh Register opens, viz., No.
6, the title runs, " A Confirmation concerning the fore-
mentioned donations," etc. It is more than probable that
a further glimpse into the earlier history of the church would
have been given us had the lost charters been preserved. But
from what we possess, it is abundantly clear that the church
was well settled with its land and officiating priest when
Hugh de Morville gifted it to Dryburgh Abbey. We are
told, moreover, in this first given charter, which is from
King Malcolm IV., and must date 1 1 53-1 165, that the Kirk
Land lay adjacent to it. Presbyter Godfrey would in all
likelihood have his residence upon it, though he would not
be married, owing to David's reforms, and there are reasons
for assuming that the west part of the present glebe may
have been known to Godfrey as part of the endowments of
the church, and it is not unlikely that it stretched as far as
to include the " Holy Water Cleuch."

It must have been about this time, indeed, and certainly
before 1 1 89, that the Lord of Glengelt gave seven acres to
the church, and these are said to lie to the east of it. The
fact also that the "Sucken" of the Kirk Lands in 1588 is
bounded on the south by the Haugh and " Kirk Watter " or
Mountmill Burn, and the " Halywattercleuch " on the west.

THE MINISTERS AND THEIR TIMES 119

points to the early possession of land in that direction.
The church must have been early entirely surrounded by
its own lands, and from its name, the farm of Kirktonhill or
Kirklandhill itself may have been situated on them.

It is nearly a hundred years later, viz., about 1248, that
any further glimpse of Channelkirk ministers is discernible,
and while very much in the foreground, they are unfortunately
mere nameless forms. They are seen doing their duty
faithfully, and receiving extra compensation for extra services,
but the designations by which they are known in the body
are sunk in oblivion. The reason why they are visible
in the charters at all is the suspension sine die of Lauder
priest by the Pope, and the necessity for supplying the
vacant charge. Charters Nos, 40 and 41 are of the year
1268. The vicar who serves in Channelkirk Church is
appointed to officiate as well in the " Chapel of Lauder," and
for his extra work he is to receive from Dryburgh Abbey and
Convent ten pounds annually at the two terms, Pentecost
and Martinmas. No doubt this Channelkirk vicar did his
duty loyally, both to his own and to the Lauder flock com-
mitted to his care. How much we should like at this distant
date to know but his name, and how he relished the six
miles' journey to and fro in the winter storms, and what his
private opinion was about the obstinate and pugnacious
Eymeric, the practically deposed priest. He must also have
heard of the stirring doings in Stow in 1268. All of him is
spectral enough now, and our interrogations wander vainly
across six hundred years.

Gameline, " by divine compassion the humble servant of
Saint Andrew's Church," and who writes Charter 40, does not
seem to have been familiar with his name, for the double
duties are imposed, generally, on him " who shall minister at

120 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

Channelkirk." Prior John follows with Charter 41 on the
same dim lines, but the general terms were perhaps written
with a purpose, for their instructions were to last, not for
one vicar's lifetime, but for many years after this one's duties
were done. The Pope's curse withered the priests out of
Lauder from 1248 onwards.

Later in the century two events transpired above the
historical horizon which must have affected Channelkirk
Church to a certain degree, and stirred her priests with
various emotions. The first was the inauguration of those
encroachments of the Pope upon Scotch clerics by way of
extracting money out of them, a process which was bitterly
resented for nearly three hundred years, that is, from 1275
till 1560. " In 1254 Innocent IV. gave Henry III. of England
one-twentieth of the ecclesiastical revenues of Scotland for
three years to help in crusade.* But Henry's gain was even
more slender than the Pope's right to give. In 1268
Clement IV. increased this airy gift to one-tenth in favour
of Henry's son. This time the Scots saved their cash and
evaded both England and Rome by offering payment in
soldiers. In 1275 a legate came to Scotland to collect in
person this one-tenth. His name was Benemundus or
Boiamund de Vicci, but he is best known as Bagimond,
possibly as a joke on his bagging or begging mission. The
device tried on him was a dispute and appeal whether the
one-tenth was to be on the old or the present valuation.
The poor legate had to trudge back to Rome for the
Pope's decision, which was in favour of the latter. The roll
so made out is still extant, and is the best authority for old
church wealth. Between 1275 and 1560 many a sore
exaction was made on Scotch clerics accord incr to this

* The Church of Scotland, vol. ii., p. 283, 1890.

THE MINISTERS AND THEIR TIMES 121

fleecing tariff, especially when the chief benefices fell vacant.
In Dr James Raine's Priory of Coldingham* under " Papal
Taxation of Churches and Monasteries in Scotland," we have
under "Dryburge" Childenechirche valued at XXX' (;^3o),
and Lauder at 68' 14' {£62>, 14s.). Channelkirk is said to
be a " Vicaria" in the Decanatus de Merske, verus valor = X',
decima = XX. This is very early in the reign of Edward I.,
who ascended the throne in 1272. The Ancient Taxatio is
preserved in the Registers of St Andrew's Priory, Arbroath,
and Dunfermline, and in these we find Channelkirk valued at
40 marks, Stow at 70, Lauder at 80, 7s. lod., Legerwood at 40,
Smailholm at 45, and Gordon at 30. The " mark " seems
to have rated in Scotland at 13s. 4d. "In 1284 Scottish
money was permitted to be current in England at its
full value.-f Channelkirk tax money went, of course, to
Dryburgh Abbey, thence to Coldingham, thence to Rome,
according to the following % : " Taxation of the Abbey of
Dryburgh by the Abbot of Coldingham, as collector under
the grant made by the Pope to Henry III. and Edward I. of
England, of the tithes of Scotch benefices in aid of the Holy
Land " (c. 1 290). " Childenechirche " is set down for " XXX.'"
The other event was of a more exciting kind, and must
have aroused in Lauderdale an immense commotion. This
was no less an incident than the invasion of Scotland by
Edward I. in 1296, in order to put down the rebellious Sir
William Wallace. It was summer, in the leafy month of
June, when the valley smiles its sweetest, that the angry
tramp of warriors everywhere resounded in Berwickshire.
Edward subdued Dunbar Castle on 28th April, on Wednes-

* Surtees Society, 1841.

t Cochran-Patrick's Coinage of Scotland. Introduction, cix.

} Dryburgh Register, p. 329.

122 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

day, 2nd May, he was at Haddington, and on the 6th at
Lauder, having crossed the Lammermoors ; thence to Rox-
burgh next day. But on 5th June he was at Lauder once more,
and crossed Soutra to Newbattle, thence to Edinburgh.
History tells his story afterwards. In the year of 1298, he
came into Scotland again, still bent on its subjugation, and
we seem to see his royal progress with clearer eyes in the
account left of it.* Mr Gough "f has traced the king's progress
up through Lauderdale. " On the 3rd, 5th, and 6th July,
King Edward was at Roxburgh. Here he found himself at
the head of a powerful army, which is stated to have consisted
of 8000 horse and 80,000 foot, chiefly Irish and Welsh.
From Roxburgh he marched towards the Forth." It is not
to be supposed that the king with his entire army confined
themselves to Lauderdale. A portion of the host must have
gone round by Dunbar. On the 7th July Edward was at
Redpath, a village south from Earlston two miles. On the
9th day he reached Lauder, and at this place he makes the
following sad memorandum : —

" Adam de Monte Alto vallettus Regis, qui, etc., in parti-
bus Scocie Moratur, etc. —

Teste Rege apud Loweder, ix die Julii."

" Adam de Montalt (Mowat), valet of the king, who died
in parts of Scotland. The king witnesseth, at Lauder, 9th
day of July."

King Edward passes up through the dale by the road
which then, as later, was the main highway between Scotland
and the South, and it is probable that King William the

* Documents Illustrative of the History of Scotland {K^v. Jos. Steven-
son).

t Scotland in 1 298. By Henry Gough, Barrister. A. Gardner, Paisley,
1888.

THE MINISTERS AND THEIR TIMES 123

Conqueror, two centuries earlier, trod the same way when
he marched through Lothian into Scotia. So near to this
highway was the manse of Channelkirk built in later times,
that when necessity urged a new wing being added, in 1863,
to its north side, the road had to be diverted to allow it to be
done, and the dining-room now stands upon the highway
over which, doubtless, the king toilsomely pursued his
hill journey across the Lammermoors. Fala and Dalhousie
were next overtaken, and on the nth he reached Braid,
in the immediate south-west vicinity of Edinburgh. "His
progress was interrupted by no hostile forces, but scarcity
and sickness rendered the position of his army extremely
critical."

One can scarcely imagine the consternation into which
Channelkirk population would be thrown, and its priest
among the rest, at the march past of such an embattled
host, with a warrior so redoubtable as Edward at its head.
Knowing how bitterly the English and Scotch hated each
other, it is a reasonable surmise that the defenceless people
fled to the hills and glens around them, and hid in safety till
the ravaging Irish and Welsh soldiers had vanished over
Soutra. It is probable that his men were no more merciful
than those of Cromwell in 1650, and would plunder all in
their track, not sparing even the "poors' box." Every
patriotic Scotsman must lament that the battle of Falkirk
which followed did not support the policy of fire and starva-
tion by which Wallace sought to free his countrymen from
English despotism. This was not to be accomplished till the
new century brought a new hero to the rescue of Scottish
liberty, and 13 14 saw Bruce and Bannockburn redeem the
disaster of Falkirk, and the barbarous butchery of the Knight
of Elderslie.

124 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

In the year 1318, four after Bannockburn, and the same
that saw the siege of Berwick go fiercely forward, the Dry-
burgh charters permit us to see once more a kind of adum-
bration or silhouette of Channelkirk priest. It is " Willelmus
de Lamberton " who speaks, the bishop of St Andrews,
and well-known as " Wallace's Bishop." The clergy have
always been warmer patriots than the aristocracy. His own
cathedral of St Andrews was consecrated this year, but he
was interested also in the remoter churches of his great
diocese, and as already noticed, he continued the provisional
arrangement by which " the priest who shall minister in the
church at Childenkirk shall also make obedience for the
church at Childenkirk as well as for the chapel at Lauder,"
and for which he is to receive the stipulated remuneration of
ten pounds yearly. Dryburgh Abbey is to see that Lauder
Chapel is served by " one honourable chaplain."

How long this condition of things lasted, and Channel-
kirk priest faced the heat of summer and the storms of
winter between Lauder and his own hill-dwelling in per-
forming his spiritual duties, we cannot venture to say. Our
view of the case, such as it is, has been stated in a preceding
chapter, and all the poor light which we have been able to
shed there on the melancholy case cannot be said to do more
than make the darkness visible. From 13 18 till 1560 we
calculate 242 years. A terribly wide space of impersonal
history, assuredly ! Not a whisper comes to us through all
these years of a priest being in Channelkirk, though, without
the slightest demur, we may freely assume that prayer and
praise arose, as of old, upon the steep hillside to Him who
has been the dwelling-place of men in all generations, and
that the voice of the priest ceased not, through these unre-
corded times, to counsel the living and comfort the dying.

THE MINISTERS AND THEIR TIMES 125

Nor would he himself fail to " allure to better worlds and lead
the way." Only the general features of the parish emerge
now and then through the heavy mist that envelops its
history. The Oxton Mill, for example, is seen still steadily
grinding out meal to the healthy inhabitants in 1380, and
one fondly hopes there was corn for it to grind eight years
later, when such a dreadful famine fell upon the country. In
the following century, Kirktonhill is seen in the hands of the
Moubrays ; Glengelt, Bowerhouse, and Collielaw in the
possession of the Borthwicks, first ennobled in 1433 ; *
Crookston, first known to them in 1446. In the fifteenth'
century the Setons are in Hartside and Glints ; Headshaw is
clear in 1494; in 1539, John Tennant, favourite of the king,
owns the Howdens, Over and Nether ; while it is certain
Carfrae, Bowerhouse, Collielaw, and Over Howden were
building peels for their defence about 1535, though one or
two of these places may have had such " strengths " before
that period. But while the chief places in the parish are all
very well defined, the church and its priest, as we have said,
are invisible. In the year 1535, the year of "bigging" of
peels, the " Kyrk of Chyndylkyrk " floats upward into light
of day through the power and buoyancy of the teinds. The
monks of Dryburgh note in their " Rentals," " The kyrkis
that payis syluer " to them ; and so the " Item be Cudbart
Cranstone and Maister Robert Formane," viz., ;^66, 13s. 4d.,
comes into their hands onward from the above date till 1580,
the same fact being noted also in the years 1540, 1545, 1555,
and 1560-70.

While the parish and its church are thus seen in dim
eclipse during two and a half centuries, the events of the
nation's history nevertheless shed a twilight reflection upon
* Douglas's Peerage.

126 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

•

it, which is not unwelcome. All Lauderdale was raided and
ravaged by the English in 1406-7, for example, and Channel-
kirk, with the rest of its population, would be called upon to
defend both life and property. These were the days when
Scotland had but one object before her in all her policies,
laws, and pleasures, viz., " Our enemy of England," and when
England as heartily considered " our adversary of Scotland,"
and the Borderland glowed with lurid auroras from blazing
fields and burning villages ; spectacles which, though fiery
enough, yet only feebly embodied the fierce passions which
•flamed in the hearts of men. Raidings and ravishings were
common, and retaliation and revenge the spur of all actions,
public or private. And as the Douglas went forth from his
Castle of Dalkeith to wind up his adventure in the battle of
Otterburn, 1388, it is hard to doubt that he led his men by
any other road than over Soutra and down Lauderdale ;
enlisting, perhaps, some of Channelkirk warriors on his way !
But strife and bloodshed were not only common between
Englishmen and Scotsmen — Scotland was rent by the
tumult of rival houses and factions, and was in the throes
of incipient civil war. The great house of Douglas almost
overtopped that of royalty itself, and the king's very crown
stood in hazard. Powerful nobles were seditious and dis-
contented. Rebellion was constantly present in every man's
thoughts.

This state of matters received ample illustration in 1482,
in the affair of Lauder Brig, and no small commotion and
consternation must have prevailed in the dale at this time on
account of this daring massacre. King James the Third was
indolent and feeble, and too readily shifted the cares of
government on to other shoulders than his own. If he had
always chosen worthy men for this purpose little harm might

THE MINISTERS AND THEIR TIMES 127

have followed, but his favourites appear to have been
frivolous, unworthy, and incapable. The hearts of his slighted
nobles boiled with indignation at such low prostitution of
the royal prerogative, and they nourished revenge against
low-born men who, they considered, could have few principles
or instincts in common with the king, and whose training and
inclinations scarcely fitted them to be counsellors to the
ruler of a kingdom which contained much inflammable
material. The mutinous nobles had an army at Lauder,
where the king was staying with his doomed and despised
pets. The suggestion of death needed little breath to
formulate it. The nobles discussed the project in private,
and Lord Gray pawkily told the story of the mice and the
cat, with the tacit proposition underlying it, of course, as to
which of the discontented noble " mice " should venture to
put the bell round the king's neck. Archibald Douglas,
Lord of Angus, gained the name by which he was ever
afterwards known, by promptly volunteering to Bell the Cat.
The royal pets were seized, summarily tried, and swiftly
hurried to Lauder Bridge, which then spanned the Leader
somewhat further up the river than it does now, and nearer
to the Castle, and were there ignominiously hanged like
unwelcome puppies over its side. But this was, perhaps, the
more trifling part of the conspiracy. They next proceeded
to seize the king, and as he was led from Lauder Fort a
humbled captive onwards and up through the dale, destined
for Edinburgh prison, we can but faintly realise how deeply
Channelkirk would be moved at the tidings and the spectacle.
It was the crisis in a tragedy which only closed in the king's
murder at Sauchieburn, and with all the results before us of
that bitter outburst of angry and neglected nobles, the en-
forced royal progress through Channelkirk, past the church,

128 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

and across the bleak Soutra, itself emblematic of the king's
fortunes, we cannot but mingle deep sympathy for the
hapless James with our interest in the wretched pageant.
Our people are more clearly seen fifty years later in the Earl
of Northumberland's account to Bluff King Hal of an inroad
of the Scots on the 21st of November 1532.* Deep must have
been the hatred of the foe to send men at such a time of year
to the raid and foray. The brunt of the scrimmage was
about the Ale Water and beneath the Cheviots. Three
thousand men were on the Scottish side, " and thair captains,"
says the Earl, " was the lard of Sesford, warden of the middle
marche, the lard of Buckleugh, John Carre, sone and heyr to
Dand Ker of Farnyhirst, with all the hedesmen of the
forrist, with all Teviotdaill on horsbake and foot ; cccc tryed
men from the west parte of the marche, and all th' inhabitants
of the forrest of Gedworth ; and all the best tryed men of
Moorhowsland and Lauderdaill, under the Lord Buckleughe!'
" Moorhowsland " is a designation of Lammermoor, and one
part of the district, at least, was known later as the " lands
of Kirktonhill in Channelkirk,"f through which, on the old
road, Buccleuch would march going south. They were too
many for the English, and "most contemptuously had into
Scotland diverse persons, with great number of horse, nolte,
and sheipe."

It may gratify the curious to take a glimpse at the
manner of life to which our Channelkirk people were
accustomed about 1450. Turbulence and mutiny among the
higher classes of a nation seldom mean less than oppression
and straitened means of living among the lower. In the
winter of 1435, i^neas Silvius Piccolomini, afterwards Pope

* Monastic Annals of Teviotdale, p. n^ note.
\ Sasines, May 19, 1707.

THE MINISTERS AND THEIR TIMES 129

in Rome, undertook a journey to Scotland to procure the
favour of the king for a certain prelate.* The English would
grant him no passport, and he had to find his way by the
Netherlands to Edinburgh, The storms on his voyage ex-
torted a vow from him to pay a pilgrimage to the shrine of
Our Lady at Whitekirk in East Lothian. The general view
of social comfort and discomfort which he saw in the Lothians
cannot differ very widely from what obtained in Lauderdale.
He was amazed to see coal first on his way to Edinburgh,
most likely in the Dalkeith district. The "stones" were
joyfully received as alms by half-naked beggars who stood
shivering at the church doors. He says Scotland is a
cold, bleak, wild country, producing little corn, yielding coal,
but for the most part without wood. Cities had no walls ;
the houses were built mostly without lime, with no roofs
except turf in towns, and an oxhide doing duty as door.
The common people were poor and rude, ate plenty of flesh
and fish, but wheaten bread was only to be had as a luxur}-.
Scottish people at this time, it seems, were taunted by
Englishmen with eating oatcakes, a preference which asserts
itself in the " Land o' Cakes " yet. The men were small in
stature, he says, but bold : the women of fair complexion,
good-looking, and amorous ; kissing in Scotland going for
less than handshaking in Italy. It seems that his comparison
might have included Spain, France, Denmark, and the Low
Countries. Scotch people had no wine except what was
imported. Their horse possessions were nags, mostly
geldings, uncurried, uncombed, and used without bridles.
Nothing, he remarks, delights the Scots more than abuse
of the English ! Evidently it was a rough, bellicose time,
when both life and property were not highly esteemed. It

* Concilia Scotice^ pref., p. xci.

130 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

does not improve either with a hundred years, and a similar
condition to that which we now quote may have actually
existed in the days of Piccolomini's visit. In 1570,
Lauderdale men are called upon to unite against Queen
Mary's party, from the age of 16 to 60.* "The quhilk day,
my Lord Regent's grace and Lords of Secreit Counsell under-
standing how the peaceabile and guid subjects, inhabitants of
the cuntries of Merse, Lammermure, Lowtheane, Lawderdaill,
etc., ar hevilie oppressit throw the daylie and continwale
stowthes, reiffis, heirschippis, birningis, slawchteris, and
depredationes off the theves and tratouris of the surnames
of Eliot, Armestrang, Nicksoune, Croser, etc., etc., sa that
the peaceabill and guid subjects ar maid unhabill for the
Kingis service, and gryt pairties of the incuntrie appeirand
to be laid waist," and, in short, seeing the promise these
thieves made (the business is of long standing evidently) of
peaceableness has not been honoured, and they "cease not
to commit maist crewell and odious crymes," they are to be
pursued by fire and sword, and, what is more, now is the
time to be up and at them, seeing that " thair is sufficient
horse meit to be haid on the feildis" (it is the month of
October or November), " and the cornis and hay of the saidis
thevis standing in stakis and riggis." They are then pro-
claimed as thevis, traitorous, and peace brekkers, etc.,
and all worthy gentlemen, Erles, Lordes, Barons, etc.,
between the Borders and Aberdeen are to prepare them-
selves in the maist weirlyk maner, and are to be ready with
twenty days' provisions, " and with palzeonis and careage
to ly on the fieldis " in order to put down the spoiling
vagabonds.

There is small doubt that much of the disorder pre-
* Privy Council.

THE MINISTERS AND THEIR TIMES 131

vailing in Lauderdale and elsewhere at this time and for
a hundred years previous was due to the relaxed conditions
of moral and spiritual example which obtained in the
churches throughout the land. The shepherds were idle,
asleep, or worse, and the sheep strayed afar. If our informa-
tion regarding this were drawn only from Protestant sources,
we might be inclined to set it down to partisan malignity.
But the blackest record is from Romish councils of that
remarkable age. In 1549* a General Convention and Pro-
vincial Council was held at Edinburgh on 27th November,
when the business was preceded by decided and astonishing
confessions that the root and cause of the troubles and
heresies in the Church were the corruption, profane lewdness,
and the gross ignorance of churchmen of almost all ranks.
The clergy in the canons or rules drawn out then, were
enjoined " to put away concubines under pain of deprivation
of benefices, to dismiss from their houses children born to
them in concubinage, not to promote such children to
benefices, nor to enrich them, the daughters with dowries,
the sons with baronies, from the patrimony of the Church.
Prelates were not to keep in their houses manifest drunkards,
gamblers, whoremongers, brawlers, nightwalkers, buffoons,
blasphemers, swearers ; were to amend their manners and
lives, dress modestly and gravely, keep their faces shaven,
and heads tonsured, live soberly and frugally, so as to have
more to spare for the poor, and to abstain from secular
pursuits, especially trading." The "heresies" that were
abroad were inveighed against at the same council. These
were : speaking against Church rites, especially mass, baptism,
confirmation, extreme unction, penance, contempt of Church
censures, scorn of saint-worship, purgatory, images, fasts and
* Concilia Scoficp, pref., p. cxlix.

132 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

festivals, and general council's authority. Heretical books
were to be burned, especially poems and ballads against
Church or Clergy. Burns was not the first, it seems, to
scourge with satire and merciless laughter the poor failings
of the Holy Willies.

So did this Edinburgh Provincial Council in 1 549 enjoin
and ordain. They might have saved their zeal. The pro-
fligate clergy and people went on their accustomed ways.
In 1552, three years afterwards, the General Provincial
Council meets once more in Edinburgh, bent on the same
reforming work. The vices and villainous manners of the
times are still further dwelt upon, and catalogued with closer
attention to particulars. It is owned that the rules laid
down at the last council have been of no effect. Provision
is then made to enforce statutes for preaching to the
people, teaching theology and canon law in cathedrals and
monasteries, examining curates and vicars, securing the faith-
ful administration of deceased persons' goods, and for visiting
hospitals. Other provisions are made to prohibit clandestine
marriages, careful trial of divorce cases, greater publicity to
excommunications, and for preventing the alienation of
manses and glebes. One of the rules set forth that even
in the most populous parishes very few of the parishioners came
to mass or sermon ; that jesting and irreverence in time of
service went on within the church, and sports and secular
business in the porch and churchyard. It is, therefore,
enacted that the name of every person wilfully absenting
himself from his parish church shall be taken down by the
curate and reported to the rural dean, and that all traffic
in church porches, in churchyards, or in their immediate
neighbourhood, be forbidden on Sundays and other holidays
during divine worship. This council also established parish

THE MINISTERS AND THEIR TIMES 133

registers of baptisms and marriages. The curate was to
enter every proclamation of banns, the name of the infant
baptized, the names of the parents, godfathers, godmothers,
and two witnesses to the baptism. The baptisms do not
seem to have been celebrated then any more than in the
present day, " in the face of the congregation." Registrations
of deaths appear to have been provided for by other
ordinances, one as early as the fourteenth century. (See
Synodal Statute of Diocese of St Andrews, Sir J. Balfour's
Practicks)

This deplorable lapse into semi-paganism over all Scot-
land somewhat reconciles us to our lack of further knowledge
regarding Channelkirk Church and its priest before the
Reformation. We cannot presume that he and it kept
their heads higher than the rest above the muddy floods of
immorality and profligacy which prevailed above even the
mountain tops of the national Zion. Not unlikely, the only
information that could have come down to us would have
been of such a nature as to raise a deeper blush for the
successors of St Cuthbert and the place founded in his
honour, and it may be easier for us in our present ignorance
to give them a higher niche of sanctity and esteem than if
we had all their history told us in all its ghastly veracity, and
could have traced with sadness "each step from splendour
to disgrace."

With the advent of the Reformation we step from the
tumbling floes of treacherous conjectures and surmises on to
the firm soil of historical record, and hail with delight the face
of another minister of Channelkirk. Ecclesiastical fortune
had indeed turned her wheel. Whereas we left Channel-
kirk priests, in 1318, doing double duty for Channelkirk and
Lauder ; when 1 567 arrives, and seven years of Protestantism

134 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

have passed over the nation, we find Lauder minister
supplying Channelkirk, as well as his own church at Lauder.
Population, wealth, and the new energies at last asserted
themselves, and the ghostly power of Rome withered in
the dust.

CHAPTER V

THE MINISTERS AND THEIR TIMES
After the Reformation

Seven Years after the Reformation — Ninian Borthuik — John Gibsoun,
Reader — Alexander Lauder — King James VI. and I., and Episcopacy
— Famine — Allan Lundie — Francis Collace — Henry Cockbum —
Report on Church and Parish in 1627 — The Teinds — Knox's In-
dictment against the Scottish Nobility — Lord Erskine — Suspension
and Deposition of Cockbum — Suffers "great miserie" — Preaches at
Earlston — His Lawsuit — His Restoration to Channelkirk — His
Death.

Ninian Borthuik

In the " Register of Ministers, Exhorters, and Readers, with
their Stipends," of date 1567, there is this statement under
" Lauderdaill " :—

Lauder Mr Ninian Borthuik, Minister, xl lib. with the thryd

Chynkilkirk of his prebendrye extending to xj lib. 2s. 2d. lob.

It is seven years after the Reformation, and the desolation
of the churches is still evident. When the priests were cut
adrift, many churches were left without any person of
sufficient status and ordination to conduct divine services for
the people. The consequence was, that one minister had
often charge of two and three parish churches. Here Mr
Ninian Borthuik not only officiates in his own parish of
Lauder, but has also Channelkirk under his care. It does

136 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

not appear that any further light can be shed upon his
identity, and ecclesiastical arrangements remained in this
condition till 1574, when we are informed that Borthuik was
translated from Lauder to Bassendean, near Westruther,
where he had also Legerwood and Earlston under his super-
intendence.

John Gibsoun

In 1576, two years afterwards, John Gibsoun is Reader
in the church of Channelkirk, and, it would appear, continued
so till perhaps 1584, when Mr Alexander Lauder, M.A.,
fourth minister at Lauder after the Reformation, " was pre-
sented to the Vicarage of Schingilkirk by James VI., on 15th
April 1586, and continued till 20th July 161 3."

This looks as if Mr Lauder had been ordained minister
of Channelkirk, though it was not so, and was merely the
result of the sinister circumstances of the age. In 1572, the
year of Knox's death, Episcopacy took shape at Leith Con-
cordat as a likely national form of Scottish religion, and
perhaps, if Andrew Melville had been silenced, and fairer
treatment given to parish ministers, it might have blossomed
into strength and favour, and continued to be the established
form of Scottish religion till this day. But at that time deep-
rooted bitterness was engendered by the way in which
noblemen used Episcopacy to snap up the Church's patri-
mony more easily, and with greater show of legal right, and
also by the nefarious and fraudulent treatment of the clergy
by Regent Morton, who would appear to have favoured
Episcopacy. Ministers who fondly thought themselves
secured in a conipetence were sometimes rudely deceived
in realising that no stipend was to be forthcoming. The
stipends, in short, were grossly 'mismanaged. They were to

THE MINISTERS AND THEIR TIMES 137

be drawn from the " Thirds " as it was termed. These were
collected by the superintendents, and distributed to ministers
and readers. Regent Morton undertook to collect these
himself, with the result that stipends were often refused to
ministers, and themselves put to sore straits. The Regent,
where he found cases like Lauder and Channelkirk, with a
minister in one and a reader in the other, put both parishes
into one to save a reader's stipend, and pocketed the reader's
salary. When Lauder minister is " presented " with Schingil-
kirk vicarage, he was not thereby minister of Channelkirk.
The king, at this date, was a mere boyish tool in the hands
of his nobles. For, in the year 1573, it is said,* "as con-
cerning the appointing of sundrie kirks to ane minister. . ,
That howbeit sundrie kirks be appointit to ane man ; yet sail
the minister make his residence at ane kirk, quhilk sail be
properlie appointit to his charge, and he sail be callit princi-
pallie the minister of that kirk ; and as concerning the rest of
the kirks to the quhilks he is nominat, he sail have the over-
sight thereof and help them in sick sort as the Bishop, Super-
intendent, and Commissioner, sail think expedient, and as
occasion sail serve from his awin principall charge, the quhilk
he in no wayes may neglect,"

Alexander Lauder

Mr Lauder's " presentation," therefore, to the " vicarage of
Schingilkirk," was merely to its " oversight," and to " help " it
as his superiors deemed best. As we now say, he " supplied "
Channelkirk, but was minister of Lauder only.i*

It was in 161 1 that Channelkirk first received a minister
to be exclusively the ordained ecclesiastical official in the

* Booke of the Universall Kirk, p. 296.
+ See Church of Scotland, vol. ii., p. 459.

138 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

parish. From 1560 to 161 1 counts fifty-one years ; so slowly
did the spiritual machinery of the nation fall into working
order. Looking to the actual dislocation of almost every
institution in the country, this state of affairs might have
been regarded as calamitous if the ultimate benefits had not
far outweighed the political, social, and religious disadvan-
tages. From 1560 till 1610, all the elements of good and
bad in the nation had declared themselves, and were, indeed,
in full contention for mastery. And as every rock and skerry
in the most inland creek feels finally the force of the tidal
wave that courses round the world, so remote Channelkirk,
in intermittent " supplies," and in deprivation of a minister
through that half century, had also its share of the miseries
of the national changes.

Regarding the reader, it is perhaps necessary to explain
that he "was an interim substitute for a fully-trained
clergyman, so long as the clergy were scarce. He did not
baptize, or marry, or celebrate the communion, but in certain
cases he conducted the ordinary service of the Church — a
matter then more easy, inasmuch as a printed prayer-book
was in regular use. In dealing with Scripture, the reader
was allowed to add a few words explanatory or hortative ;
but he was cautioned not to be too long, nor to attempt
preaching, properly so called. A trace of this early office
still meets us in the popular name of lectern or lettern applied
to the precentor's desk. The office itself still survives in the
Swiss Church, and partly in the Church of England, where
the lessons are often read by laymen. A large proportion of
our country churches, for some time after the Reformation,
had readers only, who were also the first schoolmasters." *

During the years that Alex. Lauder bravely faced the
* Church of Scotland^ vol. ii., p. 438.

THE MINISTERS AND THEIR TIMES 139

long, monotonous road from Lauder to conduct divine
services at Channelkirl<, the bodily wants of the people seem
to have been as clamant as the spiritual. A great dearth,
for example, fell over Scotland in 1 596, similar to the one in
1563,* and many perished for want.

" For if God," says a contemporary,! " hald nocht extra-
ordinarlie prouydit for Scotland victualles (coming in sic
store and aboundance out of all uther countries, as never was
sein in this land before, sa that, be the aestimatioun of the
customers and men of best judgment, for euerie mouthe that
was in Scotland ther cam in at least a boll of victuall),
thowsandes haid died for hounger : for nochtwithstanding of
the infinite number of bolls of victuall that cam ham from
uther partes all the hervesst quarter that yeir the meall gaue
aught, nyne, and ten pound the boll, and the malt alleavin
and twoU, and in the southe and wast partes manie died."

Allan Lundie

In the same year that Alexander Lauder was " presented "
to Channelkirk, and eight months after that event, Allan
Lundie, who was to follow him in that charge, received from
St Andrews University the degree of Master of Arts. He
had studied at St Salvator's College there, afterwards in
1747 joined with St Leonard's, and ten years subsequent to
being laureated, viz., in 1596, received from King James VI.
the vicarage of Lesudden, now St Boswells. It was the year
of the famine noted above, and the cold winds of adversity
were -blowing as bleakly through the kirk as through the
cottage. He appears, however, to have taken his lot with
charming unconcern, and extracted as much pleasure out
of it as perhaps was possible. He had been barely twelve
* Knox's Works, ii., p. 369. t Melville's Diary, 1556-1601, p. 243.

140 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

years in his charge when the Presbytery felt compelled to
call him to account. They charge him, on the 20th September
1608, "with negligence in his calling, and not ministering the
communion." He had gone his way with lofty ease, doubt-
less, and deemed it superfluous either to preach or pray !
The Presbytery thought him, moreover, " overstrait in exact-
ing the vicarage," too worldly-minded,- and wishing to pay
his way, scornful of the pious maxim that " a puir minister
is a pure minister." But they also blame him for playing
"at cairdis," an evil which most ministers, not to speak
of Presbyteries, wink at nowadays. It was one of the
reproaches hurled against priests that they kept gamblers
in their houses, and permitted sports even in the church
porches and churchyards. Lundie was also too fond of
"companie," and, worst of all, was "impatient of reproof
and admonition ! " We, the Presbytery, are galled to see
such proud indifference to our pious rebukes and exhorta-
tions ! He was a very scandalous Presbyterian evidently, if
not a wicked Episcopalian at heart. For two years more pass,
and Lundie stands once again before the Presbytery. It is
the 3rd day of April 1610, and we are surprised they
missed the first day. They advise him to "attend his
ministrie and increase in diligence, to be earnest for repairing
his kirk" (the usual groan of Scotch Kirk "ruination") "to
teach in the afternoon, and to abstain from his carding."
An easy, indolent, ecclesiastical Tom Jones evidently. But
all this admonishing " he took verie weel." That is, it went
in at one ear and out at the other. Perhaps it was the most
suitable route for it. All official advice, like official charity,
is somewhat heartless, and creates more demons in a man
than it casts forth. Under a rational system, a man might
listen reverentially enough to an individual's private reproof,

THE MINISTERS AND THEIR TIMES 141

even though he were called bishop, but no one expects advice
to benefit a delinquent, when it is tantamount to a deputy-
damn from a chair, with a crowded room listening, open-
eared, in a certain mood of mind.

Mr Lundie, in 1610, this year of his reproving, has two
churches placed at his acceptance. Will he accept Hassen-
dean or Chinilkirk? He resolutely answers that he prefers
Hassendean. " Being burdened for his full answer," he refers
himself to the Presbytery for more advice, and they kindly
advised him to accept Channelkirk. He seems, however,
to have been translated first to Hassendean, and then in
161 1 to Channelkirk, where he stayed till 1614, when he was
again translated to the parish of Hutton, then called Hutton
and Fishwick.

Francis Collage

Francis Collace comes in his room, having been "pre-
sented to the vicarage" by James VI, on the loth day of
December 161 4. He was admitted on the 17th September
of 161 5. When he received his degree in Edinburgh
University in the year 1610, Episcopacy was triumphantly
lifting up its head on high once more. King James VI. and
I. came to the English throne in 1603, ^.nd with his fixed
ideas about the divine right of kings, and the divine right
of churches, had made up his mind that his mind was the
divine mind, and therefore must rule the people, and especi-
ally the people of Scotland, not only from the river unto
the ends of the earth, but also from the cradle to the grave
in things spiritual and ecclesiastical. By a series of acts he,
through several years, marched steadily towards that object,
reasoning with the refractory clergy, spiriting the impossible
and powerful, such as Andrew Melville, into prison and exile,

142 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

muzzling others, intimidating, violating, and wheedling more
until, on 24th June 16 10, the Parliament in Edinburgh com-
plied with his views. An Assembly held in Glasgow the
same month saw Archbishop Spottiswoode representing the
Church, and Earl Dunbar the State, and lo ! the king had
crowned his scheme with glory, for Scotland was Episcopal.
There was one sour, gnarled, dogged Presbyterian young
soul who despised these proceedings, and it was that of
Francis Collace. Nor did three years' residence among the
Lammermoor hills alter his reflections. We find him in
Edinburgh in the summer of 161 7 protesting with many
others to the Scottish Parliament "for the liberties of the
Kirk." * For it was only in the May preceding that King
James had proposed " that whatsoever his majesty should
determine touching the external government of the Church
. . . .should have the strength of a law." Was not the king's
mind the divine mind, and therefore had right to rule ?
Would not he make " that stubborn kirk stoop more to the
English pattern ? " Was not the bishop to rule the ministers,
and the king to rule both? Dr Rankin,-|- in summing
up King James's character, royally declares that he was a
" royal oddity " ; absent-mindedly misspelling a word, it
seems, for Macaulay notes it as "drivelling idiot,":!: but a
man whose notions of royalty equalled his views of divinity had
no other course to pursue, if he were to be true to himself.
But Calderwood of Crailing, and his coadjutors and followers,
were of a different opinion, and would have none of his
majesty's prelacy. Collace was not alone either in Lauder-
dale in his protestations. All the ministers in the valley,
it seems, were united in rebellion. The close of autumn

* Original Letters relating to Ecclesiastical Affairs, vol. ii., p. 501.
f Church of Scotland, vol ii., p. 490. % Essays, Lord Bacon.

THE MINISTERS AND THEIR TIMES 143

i6i8 saw Scotland in great trouble over an attempt to foist
upon the Church the Five Articles of Perth. Ministers
openly anathematised them, and King James was as deter-
mined to depose the ministers if they did not conform.
Among * the conspicuous instances of that time is the fact of
the general revolt against these by the Lauderdale ministers,
for James Deas of Earlston, James Burnet of Lauder, and
Francis Collace of Channelkirk were in rebellion. They
were brought up with several others before the Court of
High Commission, March 2, 1620, as clerical non-conforming
culprits. Deposition was the wholesale method recom-
mended by the king for all such, but Archbishop Spottis-
woode was exceptionally lenient, and dismissed them with a
lecture and an earnest remonstrance. The Court met in
the archbishop's house in Edinburgh. His temper was
tried, it seems, at the sight of so many recalcitrants, and of
Calderwood especially. Having urged them to conform,
and having received a collective refusal, he broke out : " I
will divide you in three ranks. Some of you have been
ministers before I was bishop : ye look for favour ; but lean
not too much to it, lest ye be deceived. Some of you I
have admitted, and ye subscrived to things already con-
cludit and to be concludit. Some of you, at your transporta-
tion from one kirk to another have made me the like promise.
I will continue you all till Easter ; and in the meantime,
see ye give not the Communion." It is not recorded how
Collace took this word from the heights, nor how he carried
himself in Channelkirk afterwards. But the year that saw
James VI. no more, viz., 1625, also took Collace from Channel-
kirk to be minister at Gordon. We may add that he was
married to Marion Muirheid and had a daughter, Agnes.
* Privy Council^ 1619-22, Introduction, Ixiii.

144 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

Henry Cockburn

One of the early acts of the new king, Charles I., was to
present the new minister, Henry Cockburn, to Channelkirk,
an event which took place on the 4th day of July 1625. He
received the degree of Master of Arts from St Andrews
University, 26th July 161 3. From a description he has left
in a report, " made to His Majesty's Commissioners for
Plantation of Kirks, etc., 12th April 1627," we get a very
vivid view of the parish and church, and the miserable
circumstances into which the minister was allowed to sink
by the heritors of that time. The document is so graphic
and telling that we insert it entire. It is printed in " Reports
on the State of Certain Parishes in Scotland."

" For the Churche of Chingilkirk quhilk holdis of Drybrughe,

1. The stipend is fyve hundreth merk,* to be payit be the Right
Hon. Johne, Earle of Marr, to Lord Drybrughe, etc.

2. Alexander Cranstoune of Morestoune is proprietar of the juste half
of the teindis of the whole parochine, excepting butter, cheise, hay, etc.,
callet the small viccarage, for the quhilk the parochiners payes twa
hundreth merkis to my Lord Drybrughe.

3. Thair hes nott beine as yett a manse for a minister by reasone of
the none residence of my predecessors, so that I am very ewill usit.

4. As for my glebe, it is little worth, for my predecessors sett it for
ten lib.f be yeir.

5. I have no sowmes grasse, mosse, nor muir to cast elding (fuel) and
diffott into, to my great hurt and skaith, notwithstanding thair is muche
Kirkland in my parochine as Over Howden, Nether Howden, twa
husband landis in Huxtoune, and my Lady Ormeistounes Kirklandis
beside the kirk, and the Hillhouse quhilk perteines to the Laird of
Herdmeistoune.

6. The wholle teindis of Chingilkirk parishe ar worthe fyve-and-
twenty hundreth merk| comnnuiibus annis.

* £27, 15s. 6^d. sterling. f i6s. 8d. sterling-

I Taking the merk equal to 13s. 4d. {Coinage of Scotland, by Cochran-
Patrick), this sum was equal to ^1666, 13s. 4d. Scots = ;!^ 138, 17s. 9i%d.
sterling.

THE MINISTERS AND THEIR TIMES 145

7. It is shame to sie the queir (choir) so long without ane roofe, neither
can the parochiners get halfe rovvme in the kirk.

8, It wald be very fitt to joyne Quhelplay (Whelplaw), and all on this
syde of Adinstone Water to Chingilkirk, because they ar but twa mylles
from it, quhairas they ar fyvc mylles from Lawther if they cannot
commodiously have ane kirk of their awin.

Lastly, I shalbe ready upon adverteisment to attend upon my Lordis
Commissioneris for their mor particular informatioun in every thing that
concemis my churche so far as I knaw.

Mr Henry Cockburne,
Minister of Chingilkirke."

The " mor particular informatioun " had evidently been
requested by " my Lordis Commissioneris," for we find that
a fuller account is given below the above report, and in all
likelihood belongs to a later date. It is as follows : —

" Anent Chingilkirk quhilk is nott ane laik patronage but ane of the
kirkis off the Abacie of Dryburghe,

1. Thair ar above fowr hundreth communicantis in the parishe.

2. The remotest rowme in the parishe is two mylles distant from the
kirk and some of Lawther parishe ar neirer quha ar my daylie auditouris,
being fyve myllis from their awin parishe kirk, viz., Whelplay, and all
above Whelplay Water.

3. The quir is without ane roofe, to the great scandall off the gospell
and prejudice of the parishiners that cannot get rowme in the kirk, the
quir being doune.

4. The stipend is fyve hundreth merkis, to be payit be the Right
Honble. Johne, Earle of Marre, without any manse, the glebe worth ten
merkis yeirlie, for sowmes grasse I have nane, nor any uther casuality
quhatsoever, so that I cannot hold house in such ane barren pairt of the
countrie, being eight myllis from ane merkat, and having ten personis
every day to susteine, quhairas I wald be harberous as the apostle
commandis, Timoth. 3 cap., 2 verse.

As for the worth and rent of every rowme of the parishe in stok and
teind.

1. Bowrhouses may pay in rent being plenishit 300 merkis personage
ane 100 merkis viccarage xl lib.

2. Coklaw in stok 500 merkes personage ane 100 merkis viccarage
fowrscoir merkis.

146 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

3. Over Hawdan holding of the Abacie of Kelso is in stok 600
merkis personage ane 100 lib. viccarage ane 100 merkis.

4. Airhouse is in stok eightscoir merkis personage 20 lib. viccarage
20 lib.

5. Thriebumefuird is in stok 8 scoir lib. personage 20 lib. viccarage
20 lib.

6. Neather Hairtsyde is in stok 600 merkis personage fowrscoir
merkis viccarage 100 merkis.

7. Glints is in stok 500 merkis personage 20 lib. viccarage ane
100 merkis.

8. Over Hairtsyde in stok 300 merkis personage 20 merkes viccarage
xl merkis.

9. Greingelt is in stok 1000 merkis personage 6 scoir lib. viccarage
ane 100 merkis.

10. Haitshaw and the Haughe in stok 400 merkis personage ane
100 merkis viccarage xl lib.

11. Midle is in stok ane 100 merkis personage 20 merkis viccarage
20 lib.

12. Fairnielies in stok 200 merkis personage 20 lib. viccarage xl
merkis.

13. Kelfap in stok 300 merkis personage 20 lib. viccarage xl lib.

14. Frierneise holding of Ecles in stok fowrscoir lib. personage 6 lib.
viccarage ten merkis.

15. Hisildene in stok 200 merkis personage 20 merkis viccarage
40 merks.

16. Hairniecleughe in sick fowrscoir lib. personage 10 lib. viccarage
20 merkis.

17. Hillhouse ane chaplanrie of Hermeistoune in stok 400 merkis
personage 50 merkis viccarage 50 merkis.

18. Carfrea Maines may pay in stok 500 merkis personage ane 100
lib. viccarage fowrscoir lib.

19. Carfrea Milne in stok 300 merkis personage xl merkis viccarage
20 merkis.

20. Neather Hawdan holding of the Abacie of Kelso in stok 600
merkis personage ane 100 lib. viccarage 20 lib.

21. Waisill Milne in stok ane 100 merkis personage 10 merkis
viccarage 4 lib.

22. Huxstoune 13 landis with two landis of Kirkland in stok 900
merkis personage ane 100 lib. viccarage xl lib.

23. My Lord Cranstoune's 2 landis in Huxstoune in stok 4 scoir lib.
personage 50 merkis (viccarage) 10 merkis.

24. Kirktounhill 200 merkis in stok personage fowrscoir merkis
viccarage 50 merkis. This is fewd land holding of Drybrughe.

THE MINISTERS AND THEIR TIMES 147

25. The Kirkland of Kirkhaugh may pay xl lib. in stock and teind.

It is not fewd land, but being viccar's land of old, and now withholden
from ministery at that kirk, hinders thair satling, and maid all my pre-
decessouris non residentis, neither can I get grasse to two kye, to my
great greiffe and skaith quhilk I hope shall now be gratiouslie amendit to
the perpetuall satling of a ministery at that kirk.

If it shall please the Lord to withhold His judgments from the land,
so that thir forenamitt rowmes be weill plenishit, they may yeild the
forsaid stok and teind, and quhen the ground is punishit the heritour and
teinder must nott be frie.

Thus have I {bona fide) usit all diligence to informe myself anent the
premisses, neither might I opinlie tak the help of my parishiners, because
being maillmen and in wsse to pay for the teindis they wald have sett all
things at naught, quhilk I could not suffer, and thairfor hes taken the
wholle burtheine on myself, and yit hes neither prejudgit maister nor
tennand.

In the meane tyme, but (only) keiping ane puire conscience hes in-
deverrit to give all possible satisfactioune to all pairties that hes any
interest in this bussines and that indifferently without any partiall deilling.

Mr Henry Cokburne,
Minister of the Evangell off our Lord aft Chtngilkirke.

This is the just Informatioun delyverit to me from the minister of
Chinghillkirk. M. JA. Daes, Moderator."

The reason for the above report or reports is, that in
1627 Charles I. appointed Commissioners of Surrenders and
Teinds, with a view, among other things, to provide churches
with ministers, and ministers with competent stipends.
Help was sought from the ministers themselves in giving
just information with reference to their several parishes and
particular teinds. There seems to have been what was called
a sub-commission, dealing with the same business, but princi-
pally, although not always, composed of the ministers, and to
all intents and purposes, the presbytery. The second report
given in by Cockburn appears to have been laid before this
sub-commission, and this accounts for the signature of
"James Daes, Moderator," who was minister of Earlston.

148 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

This ministerial or Presbyterial valuation of the teinds does
not seem to have been accepted as sufficiently authoritative.*
The sub-commission for this district sat at Lauder, 7th
January 163 1, and was "holden within the Tolbuth" there.
There is extant " a copy of valuation of the lands of Glen-
gelt " laid before this meeting, when Thomas Markell in
Headshaw, and James Richardson in Kirktonhill give their
testimony on oath, that these lands, with pertinents in
constant rent, communibus annibus, " may pay, and will be
worth" 500 merks (;^27, 15s. 6y\d. sterling).

What a lamentable state of ecclesiastical affairs these
reports reveal ! No manse ; the church half in ruins ; hardly
any glebe, though the church of Channelkirk had abounded
in possession of acres ; not even a bit of the wide wild moor
of Soutra to cast peats in, or lift a divot out of, and the
stipend £2^, 15s, 61^2^-, on which to support ten people. No
wonder that the minister could not entertain any one. No
wonder that all the previous ministers had found it im-
possible to reside there. The surprise is, indeed, that the
church survived at all. " The heritor and teinder " had not
only taken the hide, but cleaned the bones also, and left " the
church of St Cuthbert at Channelkirk " the gift of wintry
winds, clean teeth, the cry of the peesweep, and the prospect
of death by starvation. But valiant Cockburn seems to have
swallowed his tears and his " ewill usit " as deep down as he
was capable, and bent his back to bear the burden which he
found impossible to lighten. Not for the first time, doubtless,
and certainly not for the last, did he find that while he re-
mained in Channelkirk he must nourish his righteous soul on
very thin soup. Scotland's clergy, like their Master, having
often resorted to their gardens, Have not found there the
• * Decreet of Locality^ '^. 2^2.

THE MINISTERS AND THEIR TIMES 149

spices and the pomegranates, but much prayerful agony, and
a prowling pack of traitors and thieves.

Perhaps, if Cockburn had been placed in any other parish
in Scotland, his " report " would not have differed in essentials
from the one he sent from this place. The spirit of revenge
and avarice swept the land, and what should have fallen on
the heads of the priests, bruised the hearts of their Protestant
successors. The Scottish nobles can never wash the smutch
of this period out of their pedigree. Unpatriotic, unchristian,
inhuman. We all know the reason ; but Knox's account of
the case is enough. The First Book of Discipline had been
drawn up, and " presented to the nobilitie,* who did peruse it
many dayis. Some approved it, and willed the samyn have
bene sett furth be a law. Otheris, perceaving thair carnall
libertie and worldlie commoditie somewhat to be impaired
thairby, grudged, insomuche that the name of the Book of
Discipline became odious unto thame. Everie thing that
repugned to thair corrupt affectionis was termed in thair
mockage ' devote imaginationis.' The caus we have befoir
declaired : some war licentious ; some had greadilie gripped
to the possessionis of the kirk ; and otheris thought that thei
wald nott lack thair parte of Christis coat ; yea, and that
befoir that ever he was hanged, as by the preachearis thei war
oft rebuked." The Roman soldiers parted the coat after He
was dead ; the Roman Catholic priests did not seek the
uppermost claith till breath was out of the body, but here is
the poor reforming Scotch minister plundered of his bodily
comforts, while he is very much alive ! Thus also Knox
transfixes one of the fleecers in whom Channelkirk should
have an interest. " The cheaf great man that had professed
Christ Jesus, and refuissed to subscrive the Book of Discipline,
* Knox's Works^\o\. ii., p. 128.

150 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

was the Lord Erskine ; and no wonder, for besydis that he
has a verray Jesabell to his wyfife, yf the poore, the schooles,
and the ministerie of the kirk had thair awin, his keching
(kitchen) wald lack two parttis and more, of that whiche he
injustlie now possesses. Assuredlye some of us have
woundered how men that professe godlynes could of so long
continewance hear the threatnyngis of God against theavis
and against thair housses, and knowing thame selfis guyltie
in suche thingis, as war openlie rebucked, and that thei never
had remorse of conscience, neather yitt intended to restore
any thingis of that, whiche long thei had stollen and reft.
Thair was none within the realme more unmercyfull to the
poore ministeris then war thei whiche had greatest rentis of
the churches."

This is Knox's indictment against the Scottish nobles.
The particular name which he singles out, viz., Lord Erskine,
has a special interest for us, as it was into his hands, as Earl
Mar, that the Abbey of Dryburgh fell, and, consequently, the
Channelkirk lands belonging to its church. He had "pro-
fessed" Christ Jesus, but the Book of Discipline was his
aversion ; nevertheless, his kitchen was stuffed with the
inheritance of " the poore, the schooles, and the ministerie."

Dryburgh, with other religious houses, was annexed to
the Crown after the Reformation. A liferent was, however,
reserved for David Erskine, the commendator. " The king,*
on the resignation or death of any abbot or prior, appointed
lay ' commendators ' for life to the vacant benefice," and
David was closely involved in the stormy events of his time.
He became one of the young Earl of Mar's assistants in the
governorship of James VI. during his minority, and he was
more or less implicated in Mar's subsequent escapades. He
* Church of Scotland, vol. iv., p. 51.

THE MINISTERS AND THEIR TIMES 151

lost his position as commendator in Dryburgh when the
Erskine estates were confiscated in 1584, but when they
were restored in 1585, David Erskine again resumed his old
post and privileges. In 1604, the first year after the king
ascended the throne of Great Britain, he included Dryburgh
Abbacy in the Temporal Lordship and Barony of Cardross
in favour of John, Earl of Mar, reserving, however, to David,
the commendator, the rents, profits, and emoluments of the
lands and others. He enjoyed the benefice from first to last
through nearly fifty years, the abbacy being found vacant on
31st May 1608, and in his majesty's hands as patron. David
had demitted office that it might be provided to his kinsman,
Henry Erskine, a legitimate second son of the Earl of Mar.
This Henry Erskine dies evidently in 1637, a few years after
the reports are sent in by Rev. Henry Cokburne, for we find
the following: "March 17, 1637. David Erskine, heir male
of Henry Erskine de Cardross (patris), in the lands and
barony and others, underwritten, which formerly pertained to
the Abbey of Dryburgh, viz., Dryburgh Abbey, etc. etc. . . .
Kirkland of Lauder, lands of Over and Nether Shielfield,
lands of Ugstoun, Kirklands of Chingilkirk," etc., etc.*

It was, therefore, through the influence of John, Lord
Erskine, whose hypocrisy and avarice, and " verray Jesabell
his wyffe," Knox lamented so much, that Channelkirk Kirk
lands were " stoUen and reft " from the ancient patrimony of
that church, by means of the youthful " royal oddity " and
the connivance of his kinsman, David Erskine, the " com-
mendator." The fault of the ruined church, the absence of a
manse, the miserable competence on which Cockburn had to
serve the cure and feed ten people daily, lay directly at the
door of this Henry Erskine, the Earl of Mar's second son.

• Re/ours.

152 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

Four hundred communicants were weekly (" daylie ") gather-
ing in a church with half its roof off, on the storm-swept
steeps of Soutra Hill, and the minister stewing with his "ten
persons " in a " but and ben," for want of a manse ; while the
illustrious descendant of " a verray Jesabell," " a sweatt
morsale for the devillis mouth," wallowed in the unprincipled
gains of sacrilege.

The conspicuous ability of Henry Cockburn is more than
hinted at in the following recommendation which we quote
from the Proceedings of Commission of the General Assembly,
1647. "The Commission recommends Mr Henry Cokburne
to the Lord Advocat to assist him before the Commissioners
for planting of kirks." He was a member of the Assembly
in Glasgow, 21st November 1638, and doubtless he was
present at that great historical scene earlier in the same
year, on 1st March, when in Greyfriars Church, Edinburgh,
the Scottish nation, in its representatives, swore with uplifted
hands, and subscribed to the National Covenant. He was
essentially a man of strong individuality and pronounced
convictions, and unflinchingly asserted his principles in open
defiance of all consequences. Such men are usually broken
when they have no capacity for bowing down, and the
General Assembly, which met in July 1648, found it necessary
in his case to adopt this process. He was suspended on
that occasion, and referred by that court to the next Assembly
in July 1649, and finally deposed from his charge at Channel-
kirk in 1650. His offence was the monstrous one of praying
in public for the Army in England under the Duke of
Hamilton. As the duke's army was in England in 1648,
Cockburn's process of deposition had taken two years to
accomplish. No better proof could be given of the mad,
fanatical, and furious spirit which then smote the four corners

THE MINISTERS AND THEIR TIMES 153

of the Scottish Zion. " Scotland is in a hopeful way," says
Carlyle, writing of this time in his cynical vein," * " The
extreme party of Malignants in the North is not yet quite
extinct ; and here is another extreme party of Remonstrants
in the West — to whom all the conscientious rash men of
Scotland, in Kirkcaldy and elsewhere, seem as if they would
join themselves ! Nothing but remonstrating, protesting,
treaty ing, and mistreatying from sea to sea." War was
added to this state of matters, for Cromwell and his soldiers
were busy. Scotland was in the dangerous predicament of
the Church ruling the State, and when the Covenanters
claimed the same powers which the Pope now claims in
vain from us. The ecclesiastical world was broken up mainly
into two parties of Engagers and Remonstrants, later
Resolutioners and Protesters, and it appears Henry Cock-
burn must have been an Engager, for it was one of the
tenets of the Protesters that they dared not pray for the
success of the Scottish army in England, not having any
warrant from God, as they said, to do so. The valley of
the Leader, to all appearance, held by the royal cause, as the
Duke of Lauderdale himself was taken prisoner and lodged
in the Tower of London for fighting to attain the same
purpose for which Cockburn, somewhat earlier, prayed, and
was deposed. But the Protesters ultimately came to be
the dominant party in Scotland, and, as a consequence,
intolerably treated the party opposed to them. They de-
prived them of their livings, and Cockburn lost Channelkirk.
He might also have lost his life in the passionate wrangle,
for the two parties visited upon each other the heaviest
censures, but Cromwell's army kept the peace, and suppressed
any attempts at martyr-making. It is before the month
* CromivelPs Life and Letters, vol. iii., p, 85.

154 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

of May of 1650, that he begins his term of "great miserie,"
for his successor, David Liddell, is admitted and ordained
on the 30th May of that year. Just thirteen days before
this latter event we find the following statement in Assembly
Reports : " The Commission of Assembly,* their advyce being
desired by two of the brethren of the Presbyterie of Ersil-
toune, in name of the whole Presbyterie, in the particular
concerning Mr Harie Cockburn, which was fully represented
by the said brethren, the Act of Synod and Presbyterie
thereanent being produced, did think fitt to give the advyce
following, to witt : That according to the transaction betwixt
the said Mr Harie and the Commissioners of the said
Presbyterie to the last General Assembly, and according to
the Recommendation of the said General Assembly for that
effect, and according to the Act of the Presbyterie following
upon both, that thrie hundreth merks should be payed yeirly
by the next intrant, out of the stipend of Ginglekirk, to the
said Mr Harie Cockburne, as long as he lives, and the
Commission advyses to take securitie of the intrant for that
effect before his admission."

It is clear that by this date he is out of Channelkirk.
But negotiations had been set afoot to provide a competence
for him. His brethren of the Presbytery of Earlston had
taken counsel together, and through their Commissioners
to the Assembly had laid his case on the Assembly table
for consideration and advice. An " Act of Presbytery " had
been formulated, and then the Commission of Assembly
"advyses" in its cautious way that 300 merks (^16, 13s. 4d.
sterling) be given him out of Channelkirk stipend, and that
the new ministers should be taken bound for that purpose.
As Cockburn tells us himself that he " suffered great miserie "
* Commission of General Assembly^ 17th May 1650.

THE MINISTERS AND THEIR TIMES 155

during the period of his deposition, it is not likely that this
300-merk " advyse " had the slightest effect upon his fortunes.
He was turned adrift to sink or swim, illustrating once
more the tender mercies of the ecclesiastical divinity which
has always presided over the creation and regulation of
Christians in Scotland. He had ten persons to provide for,
too ! Such, however, were the awful penalties of prayer.
One speculates here as to how the knowledge of it reached
the Assembly from such a remote and incommunicable
parish. There must have been pious and zealous sneaks
in Channelkirk Church at that time, who did God service
in this way.

Cockburn lived, nevertheless, to see a new day arise with
less sorrow in it for him. After nine years had passed " he
had his mouth opened." He was restored to the ministry,
but not yet to Channelkirk. Still, he was allowed to address
his perishing fellow-creatures on the solemn concerns of
eternity. A great privilege, surely ; and, meanwhile, James
Deas, minister of Earlston, having been suspended from
his charge, Cockburn becomes locum tenens there for fifteen
months, beginning apparently about the close of 1659, the
year of his restoration to the ministry. Mr James Deas,
however, believed that although he did not preach to Earlston
people he should keep the purse-strings of Earlston stipend.
He refused to give Cockburn any stipend, notwithstanding
that the Synod had ordained a part to be paid to him, and
the difficulty becoming a deadlock, the case went to law.
Consequently here is this " Report by the Lords Commis-
sioners of Bills anent Mr James Dais, Minister at Ersle-
toune.

"There being ane persuitt depending before us at the instance of Mr
Henry Cockburn, sometime minister at Ginglekirk, against Mr James

156 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

Dais, minister at Ersletoune, whereby the persewer craved thrie chader
and ana half of victuall halfe oats and thrid pairt beer and sixscore of
pounds Scotts money payable furth of the teinds of Mellerstanes and
Ffaunes be the lairds of Gradone, Torsonce, and Grinknow, which is ane
part of the said defendis his stipend and ordained be Act of Synod to be
payed to the persewer for his service in preaching at the said Kirk of
Ersletoune be the space of fifteen months, during which tyme the said
defender was suspended.

" In the which persewit baith parties compearing, and they being both
hard, wee have of consent of both parties condescended that the said
Mr James Daes, defender, should have right to the same stipend in swa
far as is not already uplifted be him, and that the said Mr Henry Cock-
burn, persewer, should have the sowme of four hundredth merkis out of
the first and readiest of the samyne stipend. And in regard severall of
the gentlemen wha are lyable in payment of the said stipend also com-
peared and declared they were willing to pay to any of the said parties
who should be found to have best right.

" It is therefor our humble opinion that your G. & Lo. interpose your
decreet and authority to the condescendence above written."
"22 March "[1661].

On 2nd July following, we have it that " Parliament passed
Acts in favour of Mr John Veitch and Mr Henry Cockburne."
Mr John Veitch was the well-known minister of Westruther,
and Cockburn would thus return to Channelkirk with his
400 merks in his pocket (nearly ;^"2i), and to the church of
his first love. This " Act in his favour " was evidently one
removing all obstacles out of the way of his return to
Channelkirk Church once more, and may be regarded as
part of the arrangement by which Rev. David Liddell, the
officiating minister there since Cockburn's deposition, received
from Parliament ;^ioo sterling. For the " Act " for Cockburn
is dated 2nd July, and that for Liddell, 4th July, both 1661.
In 1662, David Liddell was called from Channelkirk, and
Henry Cockburn once more stood in his old pulpit there.
Twelve years of bitter experiences on account of patriotically
and piously praying for success to his soldier countrymen

THE MINISTERS AND THEIR TIMES 157

fighting in England ! The religion of Scotland has been
truly hammered out on hard anvils.

The last entry in the oldest record we possess, in the
handwriting of David Liddell, is dated 25th September
1662. Part of it runs: "Five pounds of this sum delivered
to James Somerville to be given to Mr Harry Cockburne for
that part of the bursar money due to him by an Act of the
Presbytery of Erslingtoune for the year of God 1662." The
" bursar " was the divinity student who was maintained at
college by Presbytery help. The General Assembly in 1641
enacted that Presbyteries maintain a bursar of divinity. If
twelve presbyters in number, they were to maintain him
alone, but if fewer than twelve, two presbyteries were to
combine. In 1645, it was provided that every bursar of
theology have yearly ;^ioo Scots. And it seems that
Earlston Presbytery had by their act diverted part of this
bursary of ^100 to Cockburn in respect of certain con-
siderations.

It sometimes happens that a brave ship which has
battled victoriously through stormy seas will go down to a
watery tomb in calm weather, within sight of shore, and of
those who have gathered on the harbourhead to welcome
her home. Henry Cockburn returned to Channelkirk in
full ministerial status and honour, only to lay down his work
where he first took it up, and render up his life to his Master.
It must have been late in the year of 1662 when he came
back, yet in November 1663 another minister is ordained in
his place. Let us trust that though his day had been full of
storm and darkness, and, as he puts it, of "great miserie,"
there was light and calm for him at eventide. From the few
scraps of his life and work which we have been able to glean,
we are constantly impressed with the pious earnestness and

158 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

manliness of the one, and the sustained and respected worth
of the other. His struggle against poverty was life-long,
but his spirit was never daunted, and he spoke his mind
before both God and man, freely and courageously, in days
when harassment and death stood at the foot of the pulpit
stairs to throttle the minister who ventured to use such a
freedom. His ability was known and claimed far beyond the
locality of the parish he served, and he seems to have been
esteemed and respected as much in the higher courts of the
Church as among his brethren of the Presbytery. He stood
loyal to the throne and to the sober-minded party in the
Church, at a time when conspiracy against authority and
blind fanaticism in religion raged wildly throughout the
three kingdoms. This augurs strongly for his sterling
common sense and sound healthy piety. His fervour did
not, like that of too many of his contemporaries, rush into
ferocity, nor does he appear to have left the safe path of
moderation and wise judgment to reach reforms by the
methods of passionate bigotry.

It only remains to add that his wife was named Isobell
Hutoun, and that he had a son called Harrie. The name of
Cockburn is territorially connected with Channelkirk about
thirty years after our minister's time, for William Cockburn,
son of Henry Cockburn, Provost of Haddington, becomes
interested in Glengelt and Over Howden in the year 1695.
But whether or not these Haddington Cockburns were
related to the minister of Channelkirk, it seems beyond us
now to ascertain.

CHAPTER VI

THE MINISTERS AND THEIR TIMES

After the Reformation

Professor David Liddell — Cromwell's Soldiers at Channelkirk — At
Lauder and Bemersyde — First Glimpse of Channelkirk People — The
Kirk Records— Divine Right of Kings, Prelacy, and Presbyterianism
— Terror and Desolation — Divot Renovation of Kirks — Collections
and Old Customs— The Lord's Supper— Liddell's " Laus Deo " and
Promotion — Walter Keith — Earlston Presbytery and Prelatic
Presbyterianism— Kirkton on Keith— William Arrot— Received
into Presbyterian Communion from Prelacy — His High Character —
Called to Montrose.

David Liddell — 1650- 1662

If Henry Cockburn has a strong claim to be considered
our martyr, his successor, David Liddell, has an undoubted
title to be called our scholar. The proof is found in the
professional eminence to which he afterwards attained in
Glasgow University.

After careful inquiry we regret that we are unable to
indicate either his parentage or his birthplace. Aberdeen
authorities suggest that he was most probably related to the
family of Liddells who were benefactors of and professors in
Marischal College in the seventeenth century. In all likeli-
hood he was born in Aberdeen, and as a boy would receive
his education there. In the list of students entered in the

160 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

year 1634, under "preceptor Robert Ogilvie," the name of
David Liddell occurs in the tenth place.* In the year 1638,
the year of " sturm und drang " in the Church of Scotland, he
obtained there, on the 31st July, the degree of Master of
Arts. He is set down ninth on the list of graduates.f

His first appearance at Channelkirk is in the memorable
year of 1650, the year which saw, among many other notable
events, the Psalms first put into metrical form by Francis
Rous, and the Marquis of Montrose executed in Edinburgh.
Dr Hew Scott, in his well-known Fasti, asserts that Liddell
came to Channelkirk in 1654. This is a mistake, and one
that proves that Scott cannot have consulted our Kirk
Records for his statement, Liddell has himself written it
down as 1650. It is the first historical sentence inserted
there. "Collections and penalties (gathered) (and) taken up
by William Wight, elder and deacon of the session of
Chinghilkirk, and depursements efter the admission and
ordination of Mr David Liddell, the 30th day of May
1650." \

The year and time call for some attention on our part.
It was the year of war and rumours of war. Cromwell and
his soldiers were then the terror of Berwickshire and the
south of Scotland. The fountains of the great national deeps
hs,d broken up, and over the three kingdoms the masses of
the people, the throne, the nobles, and the professions were

* Records of the University and King's College, p. 462. t Ibid., p. 511.

I The Kirk Records of Channelkirk begin with the year 1650, and
those of Earlston Presbytery, in which Channelkirk is included, with the
year 1691. In order to preserve their historical connection, and give
more vitality to the narrative, it is proposed, instead of giving detached
selections, to incorporate what of them appears necessary and ap-
propriate in the several notices of the persons and times associated and
contemporaneous with them. It is hoped the unity of interest may, on
this account, be better maintained.

THE MINISTERS AND THEIR TIMES 161

a wide sea of religious, civil, political, and social commotion.
Carlyle has expressed his conviction that Cromwell was the
only true ark of safety floating on these troubled waters.
It may be so, and it may be also that there have been rats in
every ark, not excepting Noah's, and the Cromwellian one was
certainly not innocent of them. Here is evidence. Among
the first things of parochial moment which the Rev. David
Liddell has to note in the Kirk Record is the following : —

"The rest of the poor's money in the box and in the
keeping of Robert Wight and Adam Somervell, the one
keeping the box, the other the key, by appointment of the
Session, was taken away by force be the English souldiers as
they declared befor the Sessione."

Rats and ravagement indeed are here, and not dis-
daining either to nibble away the crust of the poor. Later,
when they got the length of Dunfermline, we have a similar
story, for on the 12th of August 165 1, the session records
there tell how the English soldiers broke the " kirk boxe "
and " plunderit " it.

After the Army of the Engagement of 1648 had been
scattered by Cromwell, almost every county in Scotland was
put under military surveillance and cessment. In Lauder-
dale the evidences of this seem to have been too manifest.
The Lord of Thirlestane had left his castle by the banks of
the Leader to fight Cromwell in England, only to be taken
prisoner and sent to the Tower after the battle of Worcester,
3rd September 165 1. The English soldiers had taken up
their quarters in his palatial residence, about July 1649, and
kept the country for miles around in chronic panic. The
raid upon the poor's box at Channelkirk, six miles from the
base of their roystering escapades, points to depredations
throughout the whole of Upper Lauderdale, of which no

162 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

chronicle is now left to us. If these were unattended by blood-
shed and loss of life, it is more than can be said for their
plunderings in other parts of the district, notably at Bemer-
syde, where murder was foully done, though, in justice be it
said, as promptly avenged at Lauder by those of Cromwell's
own army, who directed their judgments by the lofty if stern
ideals of their master.*

How David Liddell carried himself in presence of these
zealot invaders, and how he and his peasant congregation
viewed the sacrilegious spoliation of the Sunday offerings
must be matter of conjecture only. He obtrudes his own
personality and conduct only in the leanest scraps of the
Kirk Record which he has left us. There is a hand merely,
and a presence moving among the transactions tabulated, but
he himself is as spectral as if he were already disembodied.
It is a matter of gratification, however, to find ourselves
actually in the area of interest and action of the Channelkirk
people. Hitherto our humble history has been, for most
part, a concern of names and land, proprietors and acres,
and the necessary correlatives of these which flood the
charters of the religious houses. The people themselves are
never seen and never heard. We know that they must be
there, toiling and suffering, endeavouring and enduring as
best they may, but for the purposes of history, their lot as
connected with the Church or local existence is sadly re-
flected in the words : —

" They have no share in all that's done
Beneath the circuit of the sun."

It is the privilege of David Liddell, through his record,
to introduce us to the inhabitants of Channelkirk parish.

* Memorials of the Haliburtons^ P- 4i-

THE MINISTERS AND THEIR TIMES 163

But blurred and torn church records, helpful as they are,
can never be more than a kind of broken mirror of days and
generations long gone past. Yet for what they lack in spatial
outline and detail, they usually make up in depth of character
and intensity. The names we meet are no longer affixed to
statues, as it were, but breathe in human shapes, and there
is soul in all that is said. The legal bars and doors of the
charters, with their castle-like pomposity, yield here to home
touches, and the play of thought and feeling. We no longer
walk upon macadamised paths and streets of asphalt, but
upon fresh grass, and with nature all around us. The actions
of the people are visibly reflected in more than shadowy
outlines. Their likes and dislikes, intentions and preferences,
are embodied in the men who play the chief parts and carry
their judgments into execution. The principal solemnities
of existence, their births, marriages, and deaths, are here
set out in all their glowing light or livid gloom. Everything
is sharply cut. The swift glimpse of the trembling hand of
some weary traveller, not yet called a " tramp," or poverty-
stricken parishioner, held out to receive the kirk session's
help, is followed, it may be, with the abrupt rebuke and
ecclesiastical castigation of some fornicating or Sabbath -
breaking wight. Broad glades of humour also open up
now and then through the prosaic jungle of " collections and
depursements," and routine " sederunts " of session. A dark
fringe of sickness and sorrow is always, of course, found
flowing from the web woven on " the roaring Loom of Time " ;
brief chronicles, like sudden shrieks, declaring to us the
strenuous struggle of life and death which is going on behind
them. Little sputters of dislike and grudging also break
out at intervals, and expressions of bile which cannot venture
beyond hints and mangled words. Passing events of local

164 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

significance are often exact silhouettes of the more massive
and national ones contemporaneously being developed ; just
as one might, by aid of lenses, throw down on a small table
the aspect of a distant street or city. The widest interests
are frequently commingled, — a bridge over the nearest burn
dividing the " collections " with one over the Dee, the aid
given to teaching " poor scholars " of the neighbourhood
being drawn from the same pockets that assist a church in
Konigsberg or North America, or help the Bible to declare
itself in Gaelic. Struggles at the elections of ministers and
elders are, of course, frequent, and not always of a heroic
character. The ecclesiastical cockpit never wants combatants.
But the Day of Communion is the event which perhaps is
most heavily underscored in importance. Ministers, elders,
teachers, precentors, beadles, joiners, tents, ropes, and collec-
tions, bulk high in their several places, and attain annually
an increased greatness and profusion of record. It is the
religious tidal wave which yearly elevates every common and
ecclesiastical function of the church and parish, and which,
having passed, permits all to sink down to common levels of
routine once more. Conspicuous over all, watchful, fierce, and
despotic, towers the kirk session. None escapes its vigilance,
as few are able to elude its ban. Peer or peasant, farmer
or hind, rich or poor, all must bow to its dictates and listen
to its commands. It is an almonry, it is true, for the needy,
but it is also an arsenal for the refractory. And it is not only
in the Church where its power is felt. Not a pailful of water
can be carried home from the well, but cognisance is taken
whether it be done on Sabbath or Saturday. So with carry-
ing food, or yoking a cart. Not a fiddle may twangle at
marriage or merrymaking beyond the hours and bounds fixed
by this small body. Fathers of families are roundly told

THE MINISTERS AND THEIR TIMES 165

in what ways they should bear themselves at home or afield.
The weakest and most weather-winnowed creature in the
parish, it may be, when once seated in the chair of the elder,
does not hesitate to fulminate his judgments with a " Thus
saith the Lord."

These are features of Scottish life, which, of course, were
perfectly general over the country. The minister lived and
moved and had his being in an atmosphere as terrible as
that which enveloped Horeb. None disputed his authority ;
all except the most profane and hardened meekly yielded
place to him. " The minister of God's Evangel " he called
himself, but he approached nearer to a personification of law,
and he would shake the sleeve of the king as fearlessly as
he would the rheum-crusted fustian of the peasant. There
was a reason for all this. His power lay in his conviction
that he walked with God, or rather, as in some cases, that
God walked with him, and that all the "degrees of God's
wrath " were at his disposal whensoever he should be moved
by the spirit, to draw upon them either to advance the cause
of righteousness or to crush a blasphemous enemy. The
parish was practically his regality, short of the power of life
and death, and no king or kinglet ever swayed a sceptre so
supremely over his subjects as did the Scotch minister over
the people "within the bounds." He did not hesitate to
set aside laws and injunctions coming " from above," if they
were unsuitable to his " views," or ran counter to those passed
within his own sessional parliament. He had God's word
to back him : all else he defied. And the conviction of the
minister was the belief of the people. With few exceptions
the parish upheld him in his decisions. Docilely they
followed him, as sheep, whithersoever he, as shepherd, might
lead them. And if there had been no opposing belief to his

166 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

in the Scotland of 1650, when our records open, parish life
and parish character would have developed and flourished
after their genus, and have passed away peacefully according
to the course of nature.

The centre of this ecclesiastical system, the General
Assembly, never had, perhaps, respect adequate or power
sufficient given to it to cope with the various forces nominally
under its command. And where there is no central authority
of sufficient dignity in wisdom, piety, learning, or power,
equal to commanding the respect and obedience of men,
nothing but anarchy and misrule can prevail. The Reforma-
tion of 1560 overwhelmed the central ecclesiastical authority
of the land. But nothing so universally binding was put
in its place. True, there was a purer spiritual life, and a
more reasonable faith asserted once more, but the application
of this to externals was not so calmly and orderly adjusted
as could have been desired. When Knox died in 1572, and
Andrew Melville came to the front with his *' Divine right
of Presbytery," all the elements of Scottish life slowly assumed
the condition of inflammability, and the combustible and
explosive stage was merely a question of time. For if there
exist side by side with this belief in the "divine right of
presbytery " a not insignificant party whose conviction holds
all for the " divine right of episcopacy," if royalty, for example,
should also be convinced of its own " divine right " to uproot
this system of presbytery from the land, and plant "divine
right of episcopacy " in its place, is it not clear that combus-
tions must ensue, and something like Civil War take place ?
There was at work also the active agency of the spirit of
revenge. We do not need to say that this was actually the
state of matters prevailing in Scotland in 1650, and for many
years previous to it. King James VI. and I. and Charles

THE MINISTERS AND THEIR TIMES 167

his son after him, would have their episcopacy forced upon
Scotland ; Scotland as strenuously, respecting herself and
her liberty, declared for divine right of presbytery, and this
she would have, and nothing else. And force met force in
the field, and saint met saint at the Throne of Grace and
spilt blood, and counterpetitioned and counterlawed each
other in the name of the Most High through most of the
seventeenth century.

For the same principle and conviction is found at the
root of the mad doings of the " killing time." That cultured
and civilised men, some of them of high breeding, should
deliberately and coldly imbrue their hands in the blood of
a helpless peasantry for the mere pleasure of the thing,
is what no sane person can now conceive. But when
men believe that one form of religion is God-designed and
divinely ordered, and that another system of worship is
superstitious and contrary to Scripture, they will only
think that they do God service when they put down the
one and establish the other, even at the heavy cost of much
bloodshed.

1650 is the year that saw Cromwell cross the Tweed at
Berwick, march round by the east coast, Dunbar and Mussel-
burgh, and confront the forces of the Scotch in Edinburgh.
The year before he had settled the question of the " divine
right of kings " by executing King Charles I., and his con-
victions were just as free on the question as to the divine
right of episcopacy or presbyterianism. The arms to the
man who can use them, was his belief; the throne to the
man who can rule ; and the pulpit to the man who can
preach. It is the natural truth of the matter, and therefore
carries with it the true right of the divine. But Scottish
ministers everywhere held this as blasphemy, and defied him.

168 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

They stood by the Covenant and compelled Charles II. to
come under its obligations before they would permit him to
reign. He was secondary in their estimation to the Covenant
which declared for presbyterianism. The most characteristic
feature of this Covenant was its repudiation of prelacy. Prelacy
to them was the handmaid of popery, and both were black
superstition in the eyes of men who believed in the divine
right of presbyterianism. Round this central principle
religious fury raged throughout the land. But Cromwell
principally wished to prevent the Scots from setting up
Charles II. in the room of his father, who had but lately
expiated his crimes on the block. And with this in view,
when Charles II. landed at the mouth of the Spey in June
of 1650, he hurried from Ireland to London, from London
by Berwick to Edinburgh, to frustrate their intentions.
" Cromwell's host caused great excitement. At the ap-
proaching of this English army, many people here (Edin-
burgh), in the East parts and South, were overtaken with
great fears." " 22 July 1650 being ane Monday, the English
Army, under the Commandment of General Oliver Cromwell,
crossed the water of Tweed and marched into our Scottish
Borders to and about Aytoun, whereof present advertisement
was given to our Committee of State, and thereupon followed
ane strict proclamation that all betwixt 60 and 16 should
be in readiness the morn to march both horse and foot."
"During the lying of thir twa armies in the fields all the
cornes betwixt and twa or three miles be west Edinburgh on
both sides were destroyed and eaten up. Meat and drink
could hardly be had for money, and such as was gotten was
fuisted and sauled at a double price," *

This picture of terror and desolation over all the east and
* NicoU's Diary.

THE MINISTERS AND THEIR TIMES 169

south finds corroboration in our records in the quotation we
have given above. Nothing was sacred, not even kirk
treasuries, to the plundering soldiers. The meagre details
we have of their visit to Channelkirk are touched with pathos
as well as sacrilege. The kirk session had met, and on
settling the year's accounts after September ist, when the
hostile armies were fronting each other at Dunbar, and two
days before the defeat of the Scottish host, there was found
the sum of ;^42, 4s. 4d. Thirty-six shillings had been paid
"to the Presbytery for James Murray," who was doubtless
a probationer fighting his way through the university with
such assistance, and twenty-four shillings more went " to the
poor smith of Ugston," and the rest fell into the hands of
the marauders. The precise date of their robbery is not
given, but there is an inferential hint given us in the blank
left after July 21st, which was Sunday. Cromwell came
across the Tweed on the Monday following, viz., the 22nd,
and there is no service in church on the subsequent Sunday,
July 28th. "Aug. 4" is the next entry. This might lead
us to imagine that the soldiers had scoured Lauderdale and
Channelkirk poor's box about that date. No doubt, the
helpless people would be thrown into great consternation,
and church attendances would be forgotten in the desire to
escape with precious life. The " box " which was broken
open so ruthlessly had also its romance. Six years after-
wards, there is a homely consideration given to the old
friend who was not to be discarded though desecrated,
and so —

" April 23. After the sermon the clerk brings to the session
the old box that was broken. The session sends it to the
smith that he may mend it and make a key for it. The
smith accordingly mad a key for qk (whilk) he gets 6 sh.

170 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

The session by vot (deliver) the box to Alexander Riddell
and the key to Adam Somervell, elders." It resumes its
wonted dignities also, for " qk day they put into the box the
four dayes collections, April 6, April 13, April 20, April 23 :
qk day they reckon wt Alexr. Riddell, and finds he hes
3 lib. 8 sh. qk is not yet distribut, qk they ordere to be put
into the box."

We can only express the regret that time has not handed
down to us this venerable object of the English soldiers'
regard, and can only surmise that the care over the church
possessions has not always risen to the level of the kirk
session of 1656.

While the battle of Dunbar was being decided on national
issues, the local difficulties of Channelkirk parishioners were
being settled by similarly rough methods. The minister
records that a month previous to Cromwell's invasion " Patrick
Haitly payd for drinking and reproaching Alexr. Riddell of
Hartsyd on the 20th of Jun, 56 sh." Pat's brother James
"on 2 Aug. 1650" pays "for himself and Margt. Simson
£7, I OS. for a more serious fault, although to reproach an
elder, such as Riddell was, did not pass in those days as a
slight misdemeanour.

There are one or two items which occur in 1653 which
may be interesting to the curious. A lock for the kirk door
cost twenty-two shillings, for instance, Scots money ; " build-
ing a door up of the church, 28 sh.," " 2 soldiers' wives get
1 2 sh.," " lime for the kirk " costs 18 sh., while there was " given
for casting of ten thousand divvets for the kirk, ^7," and
there was " given to craftsmen to lay them on and to sparg
the lym, ;^9," Mr Liddell was evidently busy having his
church put in good repair. Perhaps this was the first attempt
to put right the shameful condition of this place of worship

THE MINISTERS AND THEIR TIMES 171

complained of so loudly by Liddell's predecessor, Cockburn.
" Divvet " renovation was better than none. Cockburn
grieves that "the parishioners cannot get rowme in the
kirk, the quir (choir) being doune." This was in 1627. We
are persuaded that nothing had been done to remedy matters
till this year of grace 1653. The great lords had seized the
kirk lands and kirk advowsons, and were indifferent whether
kirks or ministers sank or swam. Liddell appears to have
been suaver in his manners than Cockburn, who doubtless
had a Celtic preference for speaking his mind, and perhaps
got less attention from the heritors on this account. But the
fact of payments of £7 and £(^ for divots and labourers puts
them entirely aside. The work, for most part, must have
been undertaken by the parishioners themselves, and paid
for out of the kirk collections. Perhaps it was the more
satisfactory way of doing it.

There are not many other items in Liddell's record
which would be of general interest. There are the recurring
" poor " who receive help, and there is a significant entry " To
a cripl and to a prisoner, 4s.," which shows that war was at
the doors. We have also ample proof of the curious custom
of consigning a sum of money into the session's hands when
a marriage took place. This last item is fully explained by
the following : —

" Robert Halliwell being to be proclaimed for marriage with Jeannie
Halliwell, consigned two dollars that the marriage should be consumat,
and that there should be no promiscuous dancing and lascivious piping ;
which two dollars was delivered to Alexander Riddell in Hartsyd, July 8,
1655, to be kept till they should be redelivered — 5 lib. 10 sh.

"Sept. 30, 1655. — Whilk day Alexr. Riddell redelivered to Robert
Halliwell his two dollars whilk he consigned, and his bro.-in-law,
Richard Sclater, becaime caution that if his daughter was brought to
bed before the ordinar tyme, he should pay the penalty and cause her
satisfie the church."

172 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

It is unnecessary to say that this was a condition of social
affairs which, in their relationship to the Church, and kirk
sessions in especial, was prevalent during the seventeenth
century over all Scotland. The kirk records of churches,
the registers and minutes of presbyteries and synods,
collections of sermons, and the Acts of the General Assembly,
bear ample testimony to this statement. Festivals, penny
bridals, christening assemblies, or merry-makings in any
shape, were frowned upon by the officials of the Church as
pertaining to sinfulness.* The John Baptist ideal of life,
as viewed through a lurid atmosphere of sin and all its
attendant sacrifices and suppressions, took a deep hold of
the Scottish religious nature, and the loftier one of Christ
with its clearer heaven of forgiveness, and the happy union
of the human and divine affections, was almost wholly
obscured. Still, the natural wells of human feeling had not
totally dried up, for nothing is more persistently prominent
in these records than the sympathetic dole of money or goods
given to the poor. Again and again the "poor man in
Greengelt," whose name was Andrew Johnston, the "poor
smith in Ugston," and various others are relieved by the
kirk session's benevolence. "James Alin and his motherless
children " are never left out, and even the stranger has his
share. In the bleak days of January 1657 "the session thinks
fit to distribut 40 sh. (illings) to the 3 poor people in the
parish, because the wether is foul and they cannot travel."
Here is also an illustration of how the Scotch love of educa-
tion was fostered and fed, " Feby. 15 (1657) collected 7 sh.
whilk was fully distribut to James Alin's two sons, to pay
their quarterly stipend to the schoolmaster." James was a
widower, and needed, for some reason, considerable assistance
* See Buckle's History of Civilisation^ vol. iii.

THE MINISTP:RS and their times 173

from the session, and, as we see, his two boys were obtaining
their education out of the " collection " plate. But not only
scholars : the school, also, and the schoolmaster seem to have
been sustained out of the same intermittent source, as far
as we can make out from mangled words, blurs, and frayed
leaves. " 1659, May 29th, Adam Somerville, boxkeeper, by
warrant of the sessione, depursed fyve pounds to Will Milcum
(Malcolm?) in Netherhouden to (roof?) a house — for the
schollers to learn in." Some years afterwards this temporary
building would seem inadequate for its purpose, for on 25th
Nov. 1 66 1 "the elders met and unanimously decided to pay
the builders of the scole for that work, and to pay for the
timber out of kirk money which Adam Somervell has in
keeping. And they thought a schoolhouse for the school-
master " The necessary words to complete the sentence

are beyond our ability to decipher, but enough is given to
support the conclusion that the session had raised a school
for the parish and contemplated a schoolhouse also. They
purpose, however, to use means to get back the money from
the heritors. We trust they succeeded.

The dead are never far from the kirk, and the records
make frequent reference to them as a matter of course.
" Given to John Burrek (or Burrell), for mending the hoa and
speid and shool for making the graves, 20 sh." The " mort
cloth," large and small, is also a source of revenue to the
session, ;^i, 6s. 46., and 13s., being the respective sums ex-
acted.

The village, and south of the parish, being cut off from
the church by Mountmill Burn and Headshaw Burn, it was
necessary to have a bridge across them for accommodating
the people. We have therefore such allusions to it as this :
"Sept. 30, 1655. Appointed to be a day for a voluntar

174 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

contribution for building a bridge, the elders at the kirk door
collected 8 lib. 3 sh." " Oct, 7. Collected half-croun 30 sh.,
from those that were absent the former day for building the
bridge."

This bridge would seem to have been over Mountmill
Burn (then Airhouse Water) near to the top of the old glebe
in the Haugh, where the old road from Oxton, crossing from
near Parkfoot, sloped down to the foot of the Kirk-brae, up
which the present road to the church still lies. There was no
stone bridge then at Peasmountford — the situation of the
present stone bridge, near the railway, over Mountmill Burn
— and it was really a ford through the water at that place.
The mark of the old road is still visible across the slope
opposite the Kirk-brae. Collections for this bridge are made
at different times up till November of 1655.

Reference is sometimes made to sums collected
" appointed for the rest of the house-meal," " given to mak
out the house meale," which may have accrued to the minister
when the stipend fell short in bad harvests.

The money in use has the names of pounds, shillings, and
pence, but " rix dollars," and " dollars " and " doits " are
common. Bad money was rife. "May 30, 1658. The elders
find that Adam Somervell has in the box counted by him
52 sh,, all which being for the most part ill copper, the
minister and (four) elders hav gotten it put off their hand,
and good money for it, which they delivered into Adam
Somervell,"

Needless to say, the Lord's Supper was an affair of almost
superstitious regard. All its simplicity and clearness of
brotherly purpose was as completely buried out of sight by
Presbyterians as it ever was by Romanists, The feeling of
" Boo-man," with which children are horrified, was called up

THE MINISTERS AND THEIR TIMES 175

whenever the season of its observance came round. The awe
and trembling with which savages regard eclipses of sun
and moon had its counterpart in the most holy yet most
natural of all the observances of the Christian religion.
"March 15, 16, and 17, 1662 — At which tyme the congrega-
tion meet for hearing sermons to prepare them for the Lord's
Supr and to stir them up to be thankfull for that ordinance."
An artificial and unwonted excitement of mind due to
rhetorical whipping and frequent services was considered
the correct spirit in which to break bread in commemoration
of Christ. The simple majesty of the act, resting upon the
natural faith and feelings of the sincere heart, was over-
whelmed by whirlwinds of words and a feverish atmosphere.
But we may not blame them who, in our present-day observ-
ance of the same holy rite, lull our souls into delectable moods
by such helps as low, sweet voicings, low lights, tremulous
murmurs, mysterious fingers, smooth faces, half-shut eyes,
grave gyrations, and all the varied machinery of pious cantrip
and devout incantation.

The last entry made by Liddell has kindly reference to
his predecessor which has been noticed in its place. Liddell
was called to the Barony Church, Glasgow, in 1662, and by
Act of Parliament, 4th July 1661, received ^100. He had
done splendid work during his twelve years in Channelkirk, and
was well worthy of his promotion to so honourable a position.
The building or repairing of the church, and the building of
school and schoolhouse were doubtless done under his direc-
tion and initiative, and where these two necessaries of civilised
life were provided, little else was required in a district so
completely rural, and moving in such circumscribed circum-
stances. He closes his record with " Laus Deo ! " He would
be nothing loth to leave the silent hills, with their loneliness

176 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

and irresponsiveness, for the excitement and honours of such
a city as Glasgow. It is said to be one of the severest trials
the human spirit can pass through, to be trained in the emula-
tion and vigour of student life, in cities and where societies
thought and feeling are raised to their best levels, and in
touch with the noblest sentiments of all ages, then to be com-
pelled to slog along in the muddy ways of country life, with
its torpid thought, inarticulations, crude manners, raw re-
venges, and frozen faiths. A man may quite realise it to be
his duty to bend his nature to these extremes, for he usually
has first gone from the country to the university, but the
change is too abrupt in either case, and, if it were possible,
some medium between the feast and the fast, the turkey and
the turnip, might be more agreeable. Liddell had doubtless
been in Aberdeen all his life, previous to his career at
Channelkirk, and twelve years' experience, which brings
much from his people's affection to help a country minister,
had not quenched his joy to return once more to a wider field
and a loftier society. The records of the Barony Parish yield
nothing concerning him. His name occurs repeatedly in the
" Munimenta " * of the University, but only in formal entries,
as consenting to deeds in his capacity of Dean of Faculties,
and such like. He held the office of dean from 1665 -1674.
He was elected in October of 1674, "by unanimous consent
and common vote of all the moderators," Professor of
Theology in Glasgow University, and took the oath. His
successor, Alexander Rosse, was elected in 1682, so that he
must have died about the middle of that year. The election
is on the 27th of September, and the chair is said to be vacant
by the death of Mr David Liddell, " lait professor thair." He
does not seem to have published any work.
* Maitland Club Publications.

THE MINISTERS AND THEIR TIMES 177

Walter Keith — 1663-1682

The minister who succeeded David Liddell in Channel-
kirk was named Walter Keyth. He comes upon the scene
under different auspices from those attending his predecessor,
and leaves it with a totally different character. Episcopacy
began to grow powerful once more, and Presbyterians
trembled for their sacred ark. The Scottish Parliament
which met on ist January 1661, truculently forsook all the
principles which had modelled the laws of the former years,
and proceeded to not only pass some which were abhorrent
to Presbyterians, but abolished those which had hindered
Episcopacy from gaining the ascendency. The famous
Rescissory Act of 1661 fell like a death-knell on the
Presbyterian polity, and Episcopacy practically then came
into force. The Marquis of Argyle was executed in the
same year, and James Guthrie, minister of Stirling, some-
time of Lauder, perished on the scaffold, both bowing to
influences which were flowing adversely to the Presbyterians.
Samuel Rutherford was marked for the same doom had not
death snatched him from that fate. King Charles II. wanted
Episcopacy, and took measures to effect his purpose.
Ministers who had been ordained between 1649 and 1660
had been chosen by the kirk-session alone, the congregation
having right to complain to the Presbytery if they were dis-
satisfied. All these ministers were now proclaimed as
having no right to their livings. Here was change with a
vengeance. But a deeper wrong was inflicted because
offered under an insidious and immoral temptation. All
of these ministers who should consent to receive institution
at the hands of a bishop, and obtain presentation from
the patron, were to be continued in their parishes, churches,

178 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

manses, and emoluments as before. Hundreds, of course,
scouted the terms, and were driven forth to starve, or eat
the bread of charity. But the vacant pulpits had to be
filled, and from the north, which had always been an
Episcopalian preserve, "came a crowd of candidates, as
droves of black cattle are now brought from their wilds
to be fattened on the richer pastures of the south. The
parishes were filled, but many of them by men infamous
for their immoral lives, almost all of them by men despicable
for their talents and learning." *

Walter Keith seems to have been one of this "crowd,"
or related to it in some way, and all the characterisation
which we have quoted appears to fit him very well.

The year that brought Keith to Channelkirk was one
of much division throughout Berwickshire. The Presbytery
of Earlston consisted of nine parishes, but six of these
were true to Presbyterianism and against Episcopacy.
These were : —

Gordon — John Hardie, A.M.

Legerwood — William Calderwood, A.M., who along with his wife and
servant took refuge in Channelkirk parish after 1663, though he
continued to preach to his people in Legerwood, now and then,
clandestinely.

Merton — James Kirkton, A.M., author of The Secret History of the
Kirk of Scotland^ quoted below concerning Keith.

Smailholm— Thomas Donaldson, A.M.

Stow— John Cleland, A.M.

Westruther — John Veitch, A.M., who, like his brother William,
vigorously preached throughout the Merse and Lauderdale, under
the very nose of the Duke of Lauderdale, to whom he was related,
and which relationship perhaps saved him some trouble.

An Act of Parliament of 1662 declared that all ministers
ordained between 1649 and 1660 had no right to their
* Cunningham's Church History^ vol. ii., p. 95.

THE MINISTERS AND THEIR TIMES 179

livings. Of the above names, only the ministers of Smail-
holm and Stow, who were ordained in 1640, escaped this
deprivation.

Seeing that Earlston, Lauder, and Channelkirk Churches
were Episcopalian during this covenanting period, Lauder-
dale was exempt from hazard and has no bloody record
to show. The people, as a rule, followed their ministers
faithfully in those days, and, had they been so directed,
would have died as hard for Episcopacy as they did for
Presbyterianism. It was in general a minister's affair.

Keith received the degree of Master of Arts from St
Andrews University on the 9th July 1655, and was presented
to Channelkirk 14th October, and ordained and collated
20th November 1663. The records of his time begin : —

" The compt of the monney collected for the poore sine
Mr Walter Keith's admission to the kirk of Chingilkirk
November i, 1663."

The winter passes and spring arrives, and in March,
on the 1 3th day, there is " no sermon, the minister being
appointed the sd day to preach at Gordun to give admissione
and instilatione to Mr James Straiton in ordouris his
collation to be minister at the sd kirk."

" Collation " to Scotch ears is a strange term, but it
simply means the presentation of a minister to a benefice
by a bishop. The bishop, by-the-by, comes into our
records for the first and only time on 30th July 1665, where
Keith has set down, " The collection given to Mistres Marie
Kein (or Kem) by the Sessione, she having a testificat
sub** (subscribed) by the bisshop."

We have evidence also that matters were not too tightly
drawn on Episcopal lines, and perhaps as hatred to
Episcopacy was not so fierce in the east as in the west

180 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

and south-west of Scotland, it was deemed judicious to
temporise with the people till they were accustomed to the
name. Church government might be called Prelatic
Presbyterian. At any rate, Keith has still his elders
and kirk-session, who meet with him and arrange the
affairs of the church and parish as formerly. We
ascertain that on 2nd October 1664 the collections
were " compted by the minister and the elders, to wiz,
Alexr. riddel of hartside, Wm. Knight in hairhouse, and
Wm. Waddel in Ugstoun." " The wlk day the box put
in ye custodie of patrick Andersone ye Schoole Mr, and
the key delivered to thomas thomson in Hiseldain to be
keeped by him,"

It was in the following month, on the 24th day, that three
troopers of His Majesty's Life Guard rode to Greenknowe,
in the parish of Gordon, and apprehended Walter Pringle,
the laird there, for holding views adverse to Episcopacy.
They travelled with him by Whitburn and Channelkirk,
where they rested a night, and Keith's interest in the
case could not be slight, as in most instances it was through
the curates of parishes that the High Commission in
Edinburgh received information of those who were non-
attenders at the parish church, and were thus enabled to
put them in prison.

September 24, 1665, is the last date in the connected
accounts and minutes of Keith's time, after which there
elapse sixteen years before the record is resumed — that
is, not till 1 68 1. It was the bitterest time known to the
Kirk of Scotland, as it includes the interval of that sad
and awful period when the blood of the Covenanters was
shed like water. Not a word is given us to indicate whether
the people of Channelkirk were Prelatic or Presbyterian

THE MINISTERS AND THEIR TIMES 181

by preference. Perhaps it was prudent to be neutral and
to bend to the storm. The castle of the Duke of Lauder-
dale was but a few miles distant, and he who struck such
terror into Covenanting hearts and homes throughout all
Scotland was not likely to tolerate anything like vacillation
so near his own seat. The Rev. Walter does not seem
to have distressed himself much at a throne of grace
over the calamitous condition into which his wretched
country had now fallen. The vindicators of spiritual
freedom might starve, or bleed, or hang for aught he
cared ; his aim was to enjoy himself, and, if necessary,
purloin nefariously his joys from other people.

Regarding him we may quote, by way of apology, what
Principal John Cunningham has said regarding the Romanist
priests. " We cannot conceal, though we willingly would,
the gross licentiousness of all ranks of the clergy. Denied by
the stern ordinance of their Church the enjoyment of wedlock,
and unable to repress the instincts of their nature, they
sought relief either in systematic concubinage, or in the
seduction of the wives and daughters of their parishioners." *
Now, if it was just to expose the priest Roman, it is surely as
fair to pillory his brother English, remembering also that
men's lives are for warnings as well as for wise examples.
But an historian, t who has been variously rated, shall tell
Keith's ugly story : —

" I will give you ane instance of the justice our curats
used to doe in such a case. There was one Mr Walter
Kieth, curat in Chingle Kirk, who was, all the countrey knew
(and many stories there were of it), a common adulterer with
his neighbour James Wilson's wife. The poor man resented

* Church History, vol. i., p. 206, 1882.
t Kirkton's Secret History, p. 185.

182 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

it, and complained to his neighbours upon it. The curat, to
be first in play, summonds him before the Presbyterie of
Erlistoun (his ordinary) to answer there a slander of his
godly pastor. The man could not deny what he hade spoken
before so many ; but because he could not by two eye-
witnesses prove that they saw Kieth commit adultery with
his wife, he is condemned to confess his slander in sackecloath
upon all the pillories in the presbyterie. Yet one eye-witness
there was ; for my Lord of Jedburgh his lackey lyeing one day
in James Wilson's barn, saw the curat and the wife enter the
barn, and was both eye and ear-witness to what I need not
write. The lackey resolved to make advantage of it ; so
after they hade left the barn, he went boldly to the curat's
stable and took away his horse, which the curat soon mist,
but could not find it. The next day the lackey comes that
way rideing upon the curat's horse, and so was seased by the
people of the village, and brought before the curat, who
threatened him very sore ; he whispers the whole story into
the curat's ear in so convincing a manner, the curat thought it
even best to quite his horse for fear of a worse. Alwayes,
poor James Wilson hade no other satisfaction but this :
Being a vintner, he made a painter draw a pair of bull's horns
upon his sign-post, with a scurrelous epigrame containing the
sume of the shamefull story ; and this was a memorial to be
contemplate by all travelling that most patent road, as I have
seen it myself many times, and with this the curats durst never
meddle, nor Kieth himself, though he dwelt within a few
paces of it."

This farm stood at one time opposite the manse, on
the north side ; the highway only being between them.
It was called Channelkirk farm, and New Channelkirk
farm, near Glengelt was so called to distinguish it from

THE MINISTERS AND THEIR TIMES 183

the former. It was in existence in the early years of this
century.

The records of the church resume Keith's time on 13th
December 1681. "The sacrament of the Lord's Supper
being celebrated yr (there), was only collect for the three
dayes ^10" (i6s, 8d.). One is surprised there was even so
much. The year 1682 follows, and it seems Keith had fallen
ill after the 8th January, for from that date there is " no
sermon till the 12 of March, on qlk day Mr David Forester,
Minr, at Lauder, preached. There was collected 3s." Keith
died this month.

After 1 2th March, " no sermon till the 2 of April, on qch
day Mr Anderson Meldrum, minr. at Martin, preached."

Then the year goes past without any sermon, and the
preaching is resumed on 23rd March 1683. April passes with-
out a service, in May there is one, but in June the 4th there
is "sermon by Mr William Arat, Expectant," who became
Keith's successor in Channelkirk Church. Keith's widow
stayed at Channelkirk till, at least, July 1683, for there is a
minute, " Given out to the minister's relict for two dales that
went to the pulpit, i6s. " inserted under that month. His
son, William Keith, followed his father's profession and was
Presbytery bursar, and his career as a probationer may be
partly traced in Earlston Presbytery Records (1691-1704).

When Walter Keith died in March 1682, he was forty-
seven years of age, and had been minister of Channelkirk
for nineteen years.

It was during his incumbency that the " Thirteen Drifty
Days" transpired, viz., in 1674, when snow never once abated
for thirteen days and nights, when sheep died in thousands,
and farms were rendered without stock and without tenant
for many years afterwards. The disaster to Channelkirk

184 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

must have been terrible, but no record is left to particularise
the calamity.

William Arrot — 1683- 1696

William Arrot, who succeeded Walter Keith in this parish,
made his first appearance, as we have seen, as an " Expec-
tant." This term meant the same thing as " Probationer "
now. Although it was the time of Episcopalian predomi-
nance, the system of training students for the ministry was
carried on in the old way. The young man was trained at
the University, then passed his trials by the Presbytery, and
was admitted as an " Expectant." Church government was
a curious conglomerate of both systems in Arrot's time.
The Presbyteries were still in active authority, and the kirk-
sessions continued to fulfil the same duties as formerly, viz.,
overseeing the poor, rebuking offenders, and such like ; the
" bad" cases standing in sackcloth in Episcopal congregations
just as they did in Presbyterian churches. But the bishop
warranted the Presbyteries, and a permanent moderator
presided over them, who was appointed not by the Pres-
bytery but by the ordinary, or deputy of the bishop.

Our first glimpse of Arrot is in St Andrews. He studied
there in St Leonard's College, and had his degree from the
St Andrews University on the 25th of July 1676. He was
taken on trials by the Presbytery of Forfar, and was recom-
mended for licence on ist December 1680. He preached
in Channelkirk Church with a view to the cure on June
4th and 30th, and on August 20th of 1682 (the year when
the Duke of Lauderdale died), after which he seems to have
been permanently appointed to the charge. He was about
twenty-seven years of age at his ordination. The records
of the church have nothing special to say regarding him.

THE MINISTERS AND THEIR TIMES 185

There are the customary notices of relief to the poor, mort-
cloths and burials, collections and disbursements. But he
seems to have been as careful of church and school as was
his distinguished predecessor, Professor Liddell. During the
incumbency of Keith, matters were allowed to lie as they
fell, and as both buildings were roofed with divots and
thatch, and their high elevation subjected them to the
vehemence of every Lammermoor storm, constant care was
necessary to ensure comfort and respectability. The
presence of Arrot is evident in such notices as " Dales for
the pulpit, 1 6s." " Given to George Kirkwood for covering
the kirk, 13s." "Given to George Kirkwood for work to
church and school, ;^3, 6s. 46." " More for two men that
served at covering the kirk." " 10 Aug. 1684, more to
James Broun, wright, for repairing the Comunion tables "
— amount blank. Incidentally we may notice that James
lived in " Bourhouses," a fact which we learn in connection
with his wife's death there on 8th December 1683, and also
from Lauder Burgh Records, ist July 1660, when "John
Robertson, mason, is ordained to pay James Broun, wright, in
bourhouse, £y, 8 scotes," as part payment for the making of
a mill. On January loth, 1684, there was a big storm, and
so — " no collection, because of the small convention " ! The
present minister remembers a similar " convention " on just
such a stormy day, when only the precentor, the beadle, and
himself held " public worship," but there was a collection !
Mr Arrot notes on the 30th July of the same year " a fast
for the harvest," which seems to point to an unfavourable
seaison then.

But while the common duties of a quiet country parish
drummed round the horse-mill path of steady routine, the
national life was flowing high, and the very throne heaved

186 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

under the earthquake forces below it. It was the terrible
time of Covenanting horrors. " During the years of 1682 and
1683, the lawless soldiery continued to harass the country.
They carried terror amid the quiet dwellers in the villages,
they pillaged farm-houses, they traversed the loneliest
moors." * John Grahame of Claverhouse netted or shot them
like vermin in the field, and Sir George Mackenzie, Lord
Advocate, took care that the meshes of law should well
strangle them in " court of justice." Crowds were fined
ruinously, many hanged, hundreds were sent to the West
Indies as slaves. In February 1685, Charles II., the cause
of all this misery — tyrant, dandy, libertine, butcher, and liar —
passed to his account. A few more years saw his cruel
successor, James VII., deposed from the throne of Britain,
and the Prince of Orange seated in his place. It was like
the sun rising after a night of storm and darkness, of peril
and death, and men once more returned to their former
trust in "the authority of law, the security of property,
peace of the streets, and happiness of home."

Presbyterianism lifted its cowed head in triumph, and
the effect of the changed times was soon felt by William
Arrot, curate in Channelkirk. Episcopacy, we know, was
still strong enough in many districts, but in Lauder-
dale Presbyterianism appears to have been universal, and
Arrot, leaning to that form of Church government, sought
to be recognised by Earlston Presbytery, and received into
that communion. He first finds record there on the 20th
August 1 69 1, when "the whilk day he producit ane Act
of the Commission of the Ge'rall Assembly recommending
him to the presb. to be received into presbyterian com-
munion. The presb. taking the affair to c'nsideration, referred
* Cunningham's Church History^ vol. ii., p. 127.

THE MINISTERS AND THEIR TIMES 187

it to the next dyet for a fuller meeting.* At Earlston, on
the 7th September of the same year, the Presbytery "judge
fitt that they take tryall of his gift before they proceed any
farder, and therefore appoint him to preach before them at
their nixt meeting on Psalm loi, beginning at the middle of
the thrid verse." This text seems to have been specially
aimed at his Episcopacy, and meant as a form of confession
by him of his renunciation. " I hate the work of them that
turn aside ; it shall not cleave to me." On the 24th of
September he is before the Presbytery on his " tryalls." It
is said, with a fine blending of Scotch enthusiasm and caution,
that " with whilk sermon the presb. were extraordinarie well-
satisfied, but before they could receive him into presbyteriall
communion they judge it fit that a visitation of the Church
of Ginglekirk be appointed this day fortnight, and that
narrow inquiry be taken that day annent his life and conver-
sation." The Presbytery meets again at Ginglekirk on the
8th of October, when "the heritors and heads of families,
who were frequently (numerously) present being called in,
nothing was found culpable in Mr Wm. Arrott, his life
and conversation, but on the contrair a good character was
given to him by his parishioners both as to his painfull-
ness in preaching and catechising, and his exemplariness in
his life and conversation. After all whilk, Mr Arrott being
called in and inquired annent his judgment (who had served
under prelacie) of presb. government, his answer was that
he judged it agreeable to the Word of God, and that he was
most willing to join in supporting thereof, and that he was
willing to subscrive to the doctrine contained in the Scrip-
tures, and drawn out in the confession of faith and
catechisms. After all whilk, he being again removed, the
* Records of Earlston Presbytery (See Index of, 1691-1704.)

188 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

presb. judged convenient that before he should be received
to presbyteriall communion he should subscrive a declaration
thereof under his hand, and Mr Jo. Hardie appointed to
draw up the said declaration and present it to the next
meeting whereat Mr Arrott was appointed to be present."
The Presbytery next meets at Smailholm 12th October,
and the " declaration " is duly signed by him ; and the
Presbytery delivers itself of the following "painfull" docu-
ment which, because it bears testimony to his life and
character, we give in full : —

"The whilk day (viz., 12th Oct.), the presbyterie of
Earlston taking to their c'sideration a petition formerly
delivered to them by Mr Wm. Arrott, Minr. at Ginglekirk,
craveing that he might be assumed unto ministerial!
communion and received unto the number of the presby-
terian ministers of this church, the whilk desire was by
this presbyterie referred to the last Ge'ral Assembly,
and by them committed to their Commission, and last
of all remitted by the said Commission to the said presby-
terie, recommending unto them to take inspectione into
the Doctrine, Life, and ministeriall qualifications of the
said Mr Wm. Arrott and unto his affection to the Govern-
ment, and to proceed as they should find cause. And
the presb. having accordingly taken tryall and made
inquirie by visitation, long and frequent conferences, and
other due and propper ways, and finding the said Mr
Wm. Arrott to be a person of a blameless behaviour,
of ane edifying gift, of orthodox prin'lls (principles), of
competent diligence in the pastoral office, and he having
signed the Confession of Faith and declared his willing-
nesse to submit to and joyn with presb. government,
and his resolution to continue faithfull to the same — They

THE MINISTERS AND THEIR TIMES 189

do judge him worthy to be received, and accordingly do
receive him, into ministerial! communion and give him
the right hand of fellowship as one of the presbyterian
ministers of this church and a member of the presb.
of Erst."

He was therefore continued in Channelkirk pastorate

until called to Montrose. During his official life in this

parish he seems to have been much beloved and respected

by all classes. He took a leading part in the Presbytery

from the beginning, and was entrusted with duties by

them requiring the zeal of the churchman as well as the

polite diplomacy of the gentleman. He frequently supplied

Ormiston Church, and was deputed by the General

Assembly to preach in those " north " country churches

where as yet no ministers had been settled. His comfort

in relation to his heritors was, in the usual way, disturbed

about such things as " divvets " — no doubt for church

and school — and he takes action against Lairds Hume

and Auchenhay to procure them. He was by no means

on terms of fraternal affection with his neighbour, William

Abercrombie, minister at Lauder, who had also severe

words for the minister of Arbuthnot. But with the

testimony of the Presbytery before us regarding Arrot,

it was not to be expected that he could fraternise with

a man whose conduct was so totally vicious as to call

ultimately for deposition from the sacred office. In a

valley where, in the many changes attending agricultural

life, the churches in it have often the same members,

this was regrettable in the interests of religion and a

consistent Christianity, but where character, office, and

principle are all involved, distinct cleavage is the only

option left.

190 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

In the course of his preaching appointments in the
" north " (Angus and Mearns), he visited Montrose.
The church there gave him, on 26th June 1696, a call to
be their minister, which he accepted. On 15th July 1697,
Mr John Hardie, minister at Gordon, reported to the
Earlston Presbytery " that he supplied Chinelkirk and
declared the kirk vacant. Arrot was admitted on 6th
January 1697 as follows : —

" Montrose, Jany. 6, 1697. — Which day Mr Jo. Spalding
preached at the admission of our Minn, Mr William Arrott,
upon I Tim., 6 chap., 20 ver. : O Timothy, keep y't q'ch
is committed to thy trust, and after sermon, first minister
of the said burgh in room of the late Mr Da. Lyel by
the Presby."*

The following is from the same source : —

"Jany. 8, 1697. — This day the Minr. did report that
before his admission to be Minr. of Montrose, the Presby.,
taking to consideration the season of the year, tender-
ness of his family, and circumstances of his affairs at South,
upon all these considerations they did undertake that
notwithstanding his admission they should allow him to
go south and continue there till June next, against which
he might conveniently transport his family to this place."
"August the I2th, 1697, which day the Minr., Mr Arrot,
being now come from South with his family, did call a
Session."

By the Montrose Records, Arrot is " confined to a sick-
bed on 1st December 1729." On 12th January 1730 he
is "still valetudinary." He lingered on till 15th August
of that year, when he died. He was about seventy-five
years old. He was married to Magdalen Oliphant, who
* Kirk Records of Montrose.

THE MINISTERS AND THEIR TIMES 191

survived him, and had a son, Andrew, who became
minister of the historical parish of Dunnichan. There
were also two daughters : Margaret, who married John
Willison, one of the ministers of Dundee, and Elizabeth,
who was wife to James Bell, the minister of Logie
Pert.

CHAPTER VII

THE VACANCY

An Ecclesiastical Five Years' Waj" — June i6^y-Sept. 1702

Election of Ministers, Past and Present — John Story — Charles Lindsay,
Lord Marchmont's Nominee — The Patron or The People ?- The
Presbytery and the Lord High Chancellor — John Thorburn — Case
- referred to Synod — Referred to Commission of Assembly — New-
Elders — New Candidates— Presbytery Distracted — Foiled Attempt
to Elect — Presbytery obsequious to Lord Marchmont — William
Knox — A Day of Decision — Heritors and Elders of Channelkirk —
Election of Henry Home — Deplorable State of Religion — Presbytery
to be Blamed — Culpability of Marchmont.

The " transportation " of Mr William Arrot to Montrose
created a vacancy in Channelkirk, and a vacancy in a
Presbyterian church means a tug-of-war. The few ex-
ceptions of peaceful settlement merely prove the rule.
The Channelkirk vacancy was, moreover, extraordinarily
prolonged, owing to the contest having been more than
commonly virulent and complicated. It lasted from June
1697 till September 1702, that is, for more than five years.
Perhaps the case was unique. It has a certain interest
from the part taken in it by the redoubtable Lord High
Chancellor of Scotland, Patrick Hume, Earl of Marchmont,
the hero of Polwarth Church vault, and the friend and
proteg6 of the Prince of Orange. The affair is somewhat
notable, too, as showing that an unhappy spirit of con-

THE VACANCY 193

tention was no less potent then in the councils of landed
men and men of leading in the parish, to whom the election
of a minister was confined, than it is to-day, and en-
gendered throughout the sacred proceedings feelings just
as fierce and as foolish as those which prevail in our own
time on similar occasions among the people. Religious
controversy has ever been dear to Scotsmen, but since
congregations ceased to take part in disputes about
doctrines, the ecclesiastical prize fight has afforded a
sufficient alternative. It marks the lowest point yet
reached in a process of declension which has had move-
ment and a varied morality through several hundred
years. Its continuity seems assured, but it gives one
heartaches that the highest consecrations and oftentimes
the purest of characters should be so bowled about in
the sawdusty areas of official appointments. Whatever
delights may be reaped by " parties " and contestants in
such melees, to the ministers immediately concerned in
them, winners or losers, there is no question that the
fires of the conflict are as the fires of the stake. The
degradation to morals, not to mention lofty spiritual
tone of mind, is immense. That such things must be
is an enduring grief to many.

As illustrating in some measure the character of a
distinguished historical personage, and the methods of
a Scottish ministerial election two hundred years ago,
we treat this vacancy in Channelkirk Church in some
detail. The records of Earlston Presbytery are our
authority and guide throughout.

The bugle note of battle was first sounded on the 7th
October 1697. ^^ Earlston Presbytery, "this day Adam
Knox and another of the elders of Chinelkirk, having

194 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

commission from the elders of Chinelkirk, produced a
petition to the Presbytery, desiring Mr John Story might
be allowed to preach again to them to satisfy the non-
residing heritors, and that one of their number might be
sent to moderate in a call to him," Candidates had
already been heard in a calm, decent manner, and Story
had excited some enthusiasm in the discriminating bosoms
of the wise elders, who rather thought " he might do."
But the troublesome " non-residing heritors," always a
blister to Channelkirk susceptibilities, would have none
of him till they had heard him, and so comes this petition
that he might be allowed to preach again. "The Presby-
tery, taking the said petition to their consideration, refuses
the desire thereof at this time, in regard Mr Charles
Lindsay has not as yet preached to them."

It is at this point that the match is applied to the bon-
fire. This Charles Lindsay, as it turns out to be later,
is the favourite and nominee of the Earl of Marchmont.
Now the Presbytery look with great respect on his lord-
ship, and for the time being put this enthusiasm on the
part of the elders for John Story into a bath of cold water.
The elders had come thirteen miles with their petition,
and we can fancy that their prejudices were not formed
in favour of his lordship's protege whose interest had non-
plussed their scheme, nor would they spread through the
parish when they returned home a very favourable view of
how these sacred matters were judged in high quarters.
His lordship had a renowned name, of course ; he was a
zealous churchman, a white-hot Presbyterian, a great lawyer,
a power at the king's court, and a leader in the realm.
Why should not his choice obtain sway in an insignificant
country parish like Channelkirk ? He had set his heart

THE VACANCY 195

on Charles Lindsay. Let the Presbytery take note, and
be good enough to bend their acts and processes accordingly.
Should not all elders be humble and wise, and take light
and leading from Marchmont?

The high and wise patron is, we venture to think, the
best solution for ministerial elections ; and the bishop in
the church to guide and appoint is, perhaps, as genuine a
growth of human nature and human needs as is the king
in the nation or the parent in the home. But the people
will not always have this man to reign over them, and
by the old rebellious gate Satan enters and claims his
world. He had evidently glanced in upon Channelkirk
enthusiasts. Strange rumours had got afloat. The people's
choice was to be set aside for that of the Lord High Chan-
cellor. The Presbytery also seemed to be colluding with
his lordship. They, the humble farmers and jobbers in
an unheard-of parish, were to be eaten up without grace
or blessing by the powers above in matters ecclesiastic !
A belief gained currency that Lord Marchmont had
drenched two of the elders with his "plan," and had ob-
tained their co-operation and that of some of the heritors
in giving a call to Mr Charles Lindsay. Here was a
minister to be thrust upon them without due honour
and respect given to ruffled bosoms, glowing to embrace
John Story ! Thereupon the parish became a mass of
troubled water ; but what kind of an angel had gone down
is not recorded, neither is it said whether healing virtues
were found in the midst. The people were helpless, too,
or nearly so, for, as has been noted, power to elect a minister
lay not with them in those days, but with the heritors of
the parish and the elders in the church. Notwithstanding,
the force of public opinion is a strongly determining factor

196 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

in this "planting of Chinelkirk." It is apparent at every
turn of the process.

But what was to be done? Marchmont had got his
" call " made out, it would seem. The Presbytery might be
smuggled into a consent ! What were distracted elders to
do ? After due deliberation, they agreed to petition the
Presbytery. Thereupon the canvass over the parish began.
Names were hurriedly adhibited, and all was hustled into
due form, and breathlessly presented to the Presbytery
before the wily chancellor's trick took effect. " Presbytery
(Nov. 7, 1697), i'"^ the sixth month of the vacancy, finding no
such call tabled before them, delays the consideration of the
petition, and appoints it to be in retentis" All the same,
the call was in existence. The reverend conclave seem to
have known the fact, but while willing to conciliate his lord-
ship, they could not ignore weighty considerations on the
popular side. His lordship's methods were also, to their
mind, somewhat dictatorial. Was the great chancellor going
to overlook the Presbytery as well as the elders, and give his
Charles Lindsay the call by himself? The Presbytery has
its suspicions.

Meantime, Adam Scott, John Thorburn, and Thomas
Tod, are also eager to have " a day " at Chinelkirk with a
view to the vacant pulpit. This being granted, Thorburn
plays his part there so well as to shift poor Mr Story from
his pedestal in the admiring hearts of the elders. " Put not
your trust in" — elders, Story might well have said. So on
24th February 1698, at Earlston Presbytery, there is "a
petition fra the Kirk-Session of Chinelkirk, presented and
read, desiring a minister may be sent from the Presbytery to
moderate in a call to Mr John Thorburn to be their minister."
See, saw ! One down, the other up !

THE VACANCY 197

The Presbytery, evidently very sick of the tedious busi-
ness, appoints three ministers to meet with the heritors and
elders, and gives them power to moderate in a call. One of
their number is appointed to give intimation hereof from
Channelkirk pulpit to all concerned. But before this can be
done, the High Chancellor again complicates matters. He
desires that Charles Lindsay may be heard at Channelkirk
yet another time. Would the Presbytery not concede this
to him ? The Presbytery concedes ; his name and piety being
potent. Intimation of a call is therefore delayed, and an
angry protest comes from Channelkirk. The angry breeze
there is becoming a howling storm. But between Lord High
Chancellors, heritors, elders, and people, all at variance, what
is the sedate Presbytery to do? On 6th October 1698 — the
terrible year of harvest failure, of wild winds, rains, and
snowstorms ; when great part of the corn could not be cut,
and people died in the streets and highways, some parishes
losing more than half their inhabitants — " the Presbytery," in
the eighteenth month of the vacancy, " finding great difficulty
in planting of the Church of Chinelkirk, by reason of the
difference betwixt the heritors of the said parochin, and the
elders, and the body of the people, refers the planting of the
said Church to the Synod." The poor distracted Presbytery
flings up its impotent hands in despair, and hustles the load
on to the back of the court above it. May the Synod have
joy of it ! This might be politic, but it was not furthersome.
For the Synod did not appear to have clearer light. The
Lord Chancellor was the terror. All might go well if his
infatuation for Charles Lindsay would cease and determine.
For be it known that Synods and Presbyteries cannot very
well stand haughtily up against a Lord High Magnate ; such
a friend of the Church, too, and so favoured by a Protestant

198 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

Prince of Orange. The Synod cautiously would like to know
if his lordship's love for Lindsay cannot be dried up by some
desiccative process, and warily appoints ways and means to
ascertain. But the matter on trial was too deterring to
awestruck " brethren " who undertook this function, and
therefore, when the 24th of November comes, report is heard
in Presbytery that the Synod has done nothing. The
appointments have twirled off on gusts of official wind, and
the poor Presbytery is plunged again in anguish dire.

Well ? Refer it to the Commission this time. Presbytery
must wash its hands of the case somehow. In the Com-
mission's keeping — Commission being a kind of ecclesiastical
Court of Chancery — it is snug and safe.

Two years of this pious embroilment pass away, and June
1699 brings an additional complication. The chancellor's
call to Charles Lindsay, which so alarmed petitioners from
Channelkirk, and which the Presbytery found nowhere on
their table in November 1697, ^ow flutters out of its state
of hibernation, and alights with golden wing on every pro-
minence the Presbytery possesses. No doubt of it this time ;
and the alarms of Channelkirk elders one and a half years
ago appear not to have been out of place. The Lord High
Chancellor, through James Deas, advocate of Coldenknowes,
presents a call to Mr Charles Lindsay, "subscribed by
some of the heritors and elders " of Channelkirk, " which call
being read, the presbyterie found themselves difficulted in
regards there was formerly given to the presbyterie a sup-
plication subscribed by the plurality of the elders and body
of that people wherein they intimate their dissatisfaction
with, and aversion from having the said Mr Charles to be
their minister." But even if Channelkirk people and their
petition could be overlooked, the " presbyterie " has yet more

THE VACANCY 199

serious objections. " The said call was not moderate at the
appointment and by the direction of the presbyterie ! " The
Chancellor verily then did purpose to override their reverend
court ! But the worm thus turns upon the wily high-planning
Ulysses of Marchmont, and will show him that it has pre-
rogatives and powers ! A proud spirit which does not live long.
For after having hissed so much in the forensic ears, refuge
is again taken within the jungle of the General Assembly's
Commission, to which both call and case are referred with
blessings.

Almost another twelvemonth goes by, during which time
letters, and petitions, and arguments fly thick between
Marchmont, Earlston, and Channelkirk ; the " case " mean-
while "depending." At last, on 19th September 1700, in
the fourth year of the Armageddon, devout and vociferous
John Veitch, of Westruther, " reports that the Commissioners
from this presbyterie spake to the members of the Commis-
sion of the General Assembly to whom the Chinelkirk affair
was committed, and that they gave this return — that the
Chancellor had got up his call, and that they would meddle
no further in that affair."

So : the Commission was as timid as the Synod to face the
pious lion of Marchmont. The Presbytery could do no more.
Stagnation and ineptitude were to prevail. All the Church
courts shuddered to thwart Lord Marchmont, and to all
appearance the people of Channelkirk would have to accept
his nominee with the best grace possible. Yet, perhaps not !
The people themselves, while Church courts were laboriously
doing nothing, took the matter up and bethought them of a
counterplan to his of Marchmont. Election, be it re-
membered, lay with heritors and elders only. Now, if new
elders could be got to any considerable number, the votes

200 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

might not fall out so conveniently for Charles Lindsay !
Who knew? Another petition, then, gets rolled down its
thirteen miles to Earlston Presbytery, beseeching for new
elders for Chinelkirk. Eight names are submitted as those
of quite capable men. Nowadays, the necessary two can
scarcely be got, as though God did beseech them by us ; but
it is another matter when there is guerilla warfare to enforce,
and a lofty lord to humble. Sweet are then the duties and
honours of an elder. Pious is he, and fit beyond words.

But the wily and wary Chancellor gets wind of the plot,
and counterpetitions against these elders, and again menac-
ingly urges Charles Lindsay. Presbytery tearfully wrings its
hands and implores delay, and sends post-haste one of its
number to the Commission of Assembly for their advice.
Presbytery bethinks itself, however, that notwithstanding its
inability to " plant " a minister, the " making of" elders need
not stretch its strength so much, and so quietly, yet ventur-
ously, shuffles along with that matter, hearkening with its
deaf ear to the roar of the lion. Elders are therefore
diligently ridden steeplechase over the stiles that obstruct
their path. Attendances, characters, catechism, family be-
haviour, doctrinal soundness- — all are found most excellent.
Bang, then, go they into the most holy place. And now,
let the Lord High Chancellor consider his ways !

In the intervals of controversy, and through rifts in the
battle smoke, we discern that three probationers among
many attain a certain distinction and favour in Channel-
kirk quarters, and something may come of it : James Gray,
Henry Home, and William Knox are their names. The
elders were ordained in March 1701, and on 3rd April
Thomas Brounlies, one of them, requests the Presbytery to
grant "a hearing of Mr Wm. Knox and Mr Wm. Keith."

THE VACANCY 201

Keith is a son of the notorious "curate of Chinelkirk," of
whom we have already heard somewhat. Presbytery sends
Knox, and in May, two heritors and two elders desire
the Presbytery to moderate in a call to one of the three —
Home, Gray, and Knox. So sick are they of the whole
tangled matter, that they will thankfully accept any one
of these, the more cheerfully, too, because Lindsay, the
hated Chancellor's nominee, is not one of them. But ever
sleepless " Patrick, Earl of Marchmont, Lord High Chan-
cellor, one of the heritors of the parish of Chinelkirk,"
pounces down upon the cowering Presbytery once more,
and frightens it into another fit of " delay." Still later in
the same month, a more urgent appeal comes from heritors
and elders of Chinelkirk to call one of the three, and still
another letter from the menacing Chancellor, The poor
Presbytery is at its last gasp in such a state of matters.
But as the ages testify, light dawns at the darkest hour.
The Presbytery, like the ox driven desperate, lolling out
its tongue in its " forfoughen " and prostrate condition,
with the goads of heritors, elders, people, and a pious
Chancellor thrust into it, recalls some virility to its help,
screws itself up to act, if possible, and fixes a day, loth
of June, for a meeting of all concerned at Chinelkirk "to
try if they can be brought to agree unanimously upon one
to be their minister." Unanimously ! The Presbytery
in its weak state sees visions and dreams dreams, A
minister unanimously agreed upon by a Presbyterian
electorate !

However, it is a policy with a glimmering of good
in it, and on the loth of June 1701, this meeting does
take place at Chinelkirk. Lord Polwart was there, son of
the Chancellor, and the lairds of Trabroun, Johnstonburn

•202 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

and Kirklandhill, the inflexible Chancellor himself being
also in the near neighbourhood, but not condescending to
mingle among the others, all of whom seemed favourable
to Mr Henry Home. But Sir James Hay, Lady Moriston,
the lairds of Cruixton, Heartsyde, Nether Howden, and
all the elders, save one, wished to have William Knox. No
unanimity possible here. The Lord Chancellor was ap-
proached and informed of this, and " my Lord Chancellor
gave a commission to signifie to the meeting that he was
sorry there was not ane union amongst them, and that there
was a call independent, which he would prosecute as far
as law would allow." He still clung to Charles Lindsay,
and dared them to thwart him. The old bombardment
of Presbytery took place as a consequence ; petitions,
letters, vociferations, tedious to every one, and the tedious
Presbytery found itself as usual " difficulted," craved delay,
and resolves to ask advice from several brethren of the Synod !
There was one other method not yet tried which a
Presbytery driven distracted might attempt, viz., to kneel
at the most High Chancellor's feet, and beseech him to
have mercy, and settle this dreadful election now going
into its five years of unchristian bitterness. This the
Presbytery contemplated doing. For when interminable
petitions to " moderate in a call " showered down from
Channelkirk, and interminable loquacious letters fluttered
in from Marchmont, the Presbytery, " with the assistant
brethren" — called in to strengthen the feeble knees and
uphold the weak hands — " having pondered the above
desire and letter," on 17th July 1701, "came to this re-
solution, that ane letter should be writtened in name of
the Presbytery to my Lord Chancellor, signifying their
deference to his lordship, and how willing they would be

THE VACANCY 203

to comply with his lordship's desire if the heritors, elders,
and body of the people were of his minde." On their knees,
then, they go before his lordship, very deferring, very
willing, very compliant, and yet, what can one do in the
teeth of heritors, elders, and the body of the people ?

Presbytery is pressed out of measure by such weighty
considerations, and falls back once more on "delay," not-
withstanding " that pressing instances were made daily
by the parochin for a minister to moderate in a call."
That is to say, " It was further resolved to delay this affair
till next Presbytery day, when the Presbytery shall grant
the desire of the said parochin unless they find a relevant
ground for a further delay. There was Scotch caution,
indeed ! But it was clear that if the Lord Chancellor, the
wordy, inextricable Patrick, should lower his brows over
the Presbytery before next " day," the parochin might find
its " desire " as unattainable as ever. This the wily Patrick
proceeds to do by the usual "letter." The "day" was
7th August 1 70 1. With the "letter" appeared, as usual,
the faithful petitioners from Channelkirk, " insisting in their
former desire." It is William Knox, too, probationer,
whom they always hold aloft on their shoulders as their
" Desire." He, to all appearance, is the favourite of the
people. " Let this man reign over us," they cry.

We know not whether the petitioners had been more
than usually urgent, or that some scintillations of gracious
concession had been made in his " letter " by my Lord
Patrick, or that, goaded beyond all suffering, the poor
presbyterial ox had pulled ropes, rings, and goads out of
its tormentors' hands and made off with them, but it is
clear that the "day" was a day of decision, and the final
summing up of a five years' battle was at hand.

204

HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

" The Presbytery considering the contents of foresaid
letters (the Chancellor's), and the instant desire of the
heritors and elders above mentioned, did appoint Mr
Robert Lever (Merton), to preach at Chinelkirk next
Lord's day, and there and then from the pulpit to make
publick intimation to the heritors, elders, and others con-
cerned in the calling of a minister to that parochin to
meet upon Thursday, the 23rd inst, for that effect."

The meeting at Chinelkirk took place, but not on the
23rd, as fixed, but on the 21st of September. The winding
up of the " last scene of all " cannot be better told than in
the words of the minute of Presbytery.

"At Channelkirk, the 2ist day of August, 1701 years, the which day
after sermon preached by Mr Wm. Calderwood, Mr George Johnston,
Modr., Jo. Veitch, and Calderwood, and James Douglas, the ministers
appointed by the presbytery of Earlston to meet at Chinelkirk, to
moderate in a call to a minister for that parochin did meet accordingly,
and with them the Heritors and Elders following, viz. : —

'Patrick, Earl of Marchmont, Lord High Chancellor
of Scotland.

Lord Polwarth.

William Borthwick, Johnstonburn.

John Borthwick, Cruixton.

John Spotswood, Advocate.

Alex. Somervell.

James Aitchison.

Gilbert Aitchison.

Simeon Wedderston.
1^ George Somervaill.

James Waddell.
Thomas Brounlies.
John Lowdian.
James Taitt.
James Wedderston.
George Kemp.

" Mr George Johnston, Modr., did constitute the meeting with prayer.
Mr James Douglas was chosen clerk.

Heritors.

Elders.

THE VACANCY 205

" A motion was made by my Lord Chancellor, that all who were 'to
vote in calling a minister should take the oath of Allegiance, and sign
the Assurance, which oaths being read, the Allegiance was tendered by
the Lord Chancellor to the heritors and elders present, and sworne by
them, and the Assurance signed.

" The officer being appointed to call at the church door if there were
any heritors or others without who had right to vote in calling of a
minister to the parochin : Compeared Geo. Douglas, portioner of New-
tonlies, and delivered a commission to himself from Sir James Hay of
Simprin, and others mentioned in the said commission, empowering him to
vote for Mr Wm. Knox, preacher of the Gospell, to be minister at Chinel-
kirk. As also Mr Andrew Cochran, portioner to Andrew Ker of Moriston,
produced a commission from the Tutors of Moriston, and another com-
mission from Margaret Swinton, Lady Moriston, empowering him to vote
for the said Mr Wm. Knox ; which commissions were read, and it being
objected by the Chancellor against the said George Douglas and Mr
Andrew Cochran that they had no right to vote in calling of a minister by
virtue of their said commissions, in regard all heritors and others con-
cerned in calling of a minister are required to qualify themselves accord-
ing to law at the tyme of signing the call."

The matter of commissions having been adjusted, the
great event of the day transpired.

"The Moderator having asked the heritors and elders whom they
designed to call for their minister. Some were for calling Mr Henry
Home, others for calling Mr William Knox, and it being put to the vote,
which of the said two should be elected, the roll being called, the votes
split — seven voters being for the one, and seven for the other — and two
non liquet. Whereupon, after a little demurring, the Laird of Cruixton,
being one of the non Itquets, arose and demanded his letter directed to Mr
James Douglas to be communicat to a former meeting at Chinelkirk
signifying his assent and consent to the calling of Mr William Knox to
be minister there ; and upon the Moderator's reply that they had not the
letter, but the Presbytery Clerk, and that they were not the Presbytery —
did instantly vote for Mr Henry Home, and a call being produced be
my Lord Chancellor to the said Mr Henry, he did subscribe the same
with others, which being done, and George Douglas and Mr Andrew
Cochran called in, the meeting was closed with prayer."

Twelve months afterwards, five of the six elders protested

in due form "against the ordaining of Mr Henry Home

minister of Channelkirk," but the Presbytery " found nothing

of moment in this paper," and proceeded with his settlement,

206 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

which took place at Channelkirk on 23rd September 1702, a
year and a month after his election to the vacancy. The
elders had greater reason to complain to the Presbytery con-
cerning Mr Home in the years following.

So ends the ecclesiastical Waterloo of Channelkirk. It is
impossible to review the deplorable state of Church matters
here laid bare in the hard and dry statements of Earlston
Presbytery minutes, without feeling that whoever was to
blame, the Church of Channelkirk was deeply injured in
its highest interests by such unseemly procedure. No doubt
it was a remote parish, and its inhabitants were few, but its
very weakness and want of influence should have commanded
consideration from those who had the control of its spiritual
welfare. Instead of this, there is evident in every step of the
clerical and unclerical processes, a wanton and selfish dis-
regard of the honour of religion, and the spiritual wants of
the people. Personal whim and arrogance cloud every
judgment and stamp every action ; and in order to obtain
individual triumphs the common Christianity of the district
is disgraced and besmirched by those whose names were
its proudest boast throughout the nation. The people stand
out spotless in the affair because their power was nil, and
they only " desired " a speedy settlement. The elders, no
doubt, were fluctuating in their behaviour and " choices," but
their endeavours to place their church on a proper and
respectable footing were praiseworthy and admirable. The
Presbytery was, we think, to be blamed for its supineness
and want of courage to do its plain duty. The fear of
man was more to it than the fear of God. The same
paralysis of will before courtly influence is manifest also
in the Synod and in the General Assembly's Commission,
But the chief indictment must be found against Lord

THE VACANCY 207

Marchmont, who, by sheer splenetic stubbornness and
self-will, resisted the decent settlement of the church for
five bitter years, out of regard to a man who does not seem
to have possessed one distinctive virtue or gift sufficiently
attractive to create for him a single supporter in the entire
parish. We are perfectly cognizant of the Lord High
Chancellor's claims to veneration and respect. His sacri-
fices for religion cannot be dimmed, nor can they be
eliminated from the history of a period which abounded in
noble sacrifices. But we must sorrowfully maintain that
the Duke of Lauderdale's epithet " factious," and Lord
Macaulay's* estimate of him as a man "perverse," "in-
capable alike of leading and of following, conceited, captious,
and wrong-headed," are amply sustained by his conduct
in this case of Channelkirk vacancy. He was not too
high to stoop to despicable dodging, and he uses his great
reputation to overawe all who were concerned in the carry-
ing out of plain legal processes. He systematically dis-
regarded throughout the loudly expressed wishes of heritors,
elders, and the people of Channelkirk, and treated the
Presbytery, the Synod, and the Assembly's Commission
as feudal vassals in his lordly superiority. He did
injustice to the Church, to her courts, and to her peasant
worshippers, and, above all, to the Master whom he so
ostentatiously professed to serve.

He was the representative of the throne in the General
Assembly of 1702. We do not doubt for a moment that
he would sustain that honourable office to the satisfaction
of all concerned, but how could he face the Shepherd of
the sheep in the Assembly when he had been busy worrying
one of His flock on the Lammermoor Hills?
* History of England.

CHAPTER VIII

THE MINISTERS AND THEIR TIMES

Henry Home — The Records — Lithuania — Home as a Preacher —
Public and Domestic Troubles — Libelled by Presbytery — Death
decides — The Rebellion of 1745 — Cope's Halt at Channelkirk—
Prince Charlie at Channelkirk — Church Discipline — David Scott —
Church Property — Scott's Description of the Church — Stipend
Troubles — New School— Declining Health and Death — Thomas
Murray — Heresy Hunting — Recalcitrant Parishioners — Sabbath
Breaking — Becomes a Heritor — Stipend Troubles — Farmers in
Channelkirk in 1800.

Henry Home — 1702-175 1 a.d.

Henry Home sat down in a parish reeking with dislike
of him. He was cleariy " the heritors' man." Regarding
his early life we know nothing. He was born about the
year 1675, and it appears he was educated at Edinburgh
University and graduated Master of Arts there, 13th July
1695.* After serving a probationary period in Chirnside,
Berwickshire, and " supplying " churches here and there,
he was elected to Channelkirk, as we have seen, on the
2 1st of August 1 70 1, and ordained, under protest from all
his elders save one, on the 23rd of September 1702. The
Kirk Records of his time, which are in his handwriting,
are sparse in items of local interest, as Home, for certain
reasons which appear below, was particularly chary of
* Catalogue of Graduates. Bannatyne Club Publications.

THE MINISTERS AND THEIR TIMES 209

putting his statements in black and white. Where one
page would be given by others to " Collections," and another
to " Depursements," he crams both on to one sheet, and
renders it impossible to state anything in detail. There
are many blanks also which have sinister tales to tell.

The records of his regime begin with May 28, 1704.
The Sacrament we learn was celebrated once a year in
June, July, or August, the month, to all appearance, being
varied according to the local requirements. A pair of
silver cups for Communion purposes were purchased on
13th May 1706, and appear to have continued in regular
use till January 1885, when they mysteriously disappeared
at the burning of the manse. One item under 2 1st Sep-
tember 17 1 8 arrests our attention. "To Protestants in
Lithuania, ;^I5, 5s." One naturally asks what earthly
connection had Lithuanian Protestants to do with Channel-
kirk ? Perhaps the following from Carlyle may explain :
" Insterburg, 27th July 1739. (Crown Prince to Vol-
taire). — Prussian Lithuania is a country a hundred and
twenty miles long by from sixty to forty broad ; it was
ravaged by pestilence at the beginning of this century,
and they say three hundred thousand people died of
disease and famine."* "Since that time, say twenty years
ago, there is no expense that the king has been afraid
of, in order to succeed in his salutary views." " Twenty
years ago" would mean the year 1719. This is about the
time when Channelkirk compassion was moved to charity,
and sent its mite of help to those far-off stricken regions.
Three years later — in December 172 1 — "To Protestants in
Saxony, ^^13, 7s.," displays a similar disposition. The
famous Salzburger persecution may likewise have had

* Frederick the Great, vol. iii., p. 27 1 ; vol. iii., c. 3.

210 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

something to do with it. This wide interest in events and
places lying far from such an isolated country parish is
very notable. We have, for further example, such an entry
as the following : " To St Andrews Harbour, ^3, 4s."
This occurs under "August 3, 1729," when, it seems, the
good people of that ancient city were exercising them-
selves in building a harbour out of the stones of their
ruined cathedral.

The local interests, however, are not forgotten. Wintry
storms and equinoctial gales seem to be answerable
for the following : "May 8, 1720. — To thatching the kirk,
^i, 4s." This thatch does duty for four years, when the
entire church undergoes repairs of a more permanent kind.
On 25th June 1724, the heritors meet with Presbytery, and
Home reports on kirk and manse repairs. He says he is
" much straitened for room in his manse." But the church
alone seems to have been touched, and on the above date
the kirk bade farewell to a thatched roof, and for the first
time was covered with slates brought all the way from
Dundee. About this time the slating of churches became
general in the district, and that of Channelkirk seems to
have been among the first to be treated in this manner.

At the present day we should surmise that Home was
popular as a preacher, as he was in much request at sacra-
ment seasons with neighbouring ministers. We find him
often at Lauder, Stow, Fala, Humbie, Yarrow, Edinburgh,
and once in 1741, September 27th, at Whittingehame. At
the last-mentioned place he was " assisting his nephew,"
George Home.

As a minister it was his painful duty to take up an
attitude against local transgressors, but it must have been to
him " sharper than a serpent's tooth," to see his own flesh and

THE MINISTERS AND THEIR TIMES 211

blood stand at the bar of the Church Court. Nevertheless,
the legend runs: "24th Feb. 1741 — William Eckford and
Marion Home were called to compear before the Session "
(the Reverend David Duncan being moderator pro tempore)
" for their Irregular Marriage, and after prayer they were
interrogate when the}' were married ; declared that they were
married upon the 3rd of Sept. last, and produced their testi-
ficats testifying the same signed by David Campbell, minr.
After they were sharply rebuked, and seriously exhorted to
live all their days in the fear of God, were dismissed." Mr
Home had married Jean Henryson, probably one of the
Henrysons of Kirktonhill, on 23rd September 1702, and this
delinquent of his flock, Marion, his second daughter, had
made a " runaway match." " Irregular marriages," as they
were called, were very frequent offences in those days. They
were always sustained, however, after confession, and the
" sinners " admitted once more to " all the privileges of
Church membership." Mr Home's eldest daughter was
called Jean, and the youngest Anne. These three Graces
seem to have completed his family, and they were all alive
and "above sixteen years" on 3rd December 1745.

About this time, troubles of the direst kind began to fold
around poor Mr Home, and his years afterwards must have
been as devoid of brightness as the place of his dwelling,
when the mists of November roll like milk curd through all
the glens of the Lammermoors. His parishioners had firmly
made up their minds that they did well to be angry with
him. His very domestic servants felt justified in abusing
him. His neighbour, Henryson of Kirktonhill, was at bitter
variance with him, the heritors eyed him unfavourably, his
manse was in a wretched state, and he declares " he had not
a dry roof for years past," and to crown this pyramid of pity,

212 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

his daughter Marion elopes, and the Presbytery of Earlston
Hbel him for various misdemeanours ! A weltering district
of purgatorial pains surrounded him, if it was not a Persian
trough of Skaphism. In other respects he seemed pros-
perous, and had been for many years the proprietor of
Kelphope, and a heritor in his parish. What malignant
microbulous influence dogged him ? We shall see. But we
must go back a few years.

On the 19th of October 1739, he complains to the Pres-
bytery, in the presence of Wm. Henderson of Kirktonhill, that
Henderson " some months ago " " had come into his yard, and
cut a growing tree, and carried off a part of it." This had
become a matter of litigation before the Bailiff of Lauderdale
and a Justice of the Peace, Henderson maintaining that
Home had no right to the ground where the tree grew, and
that he had merely the use of it during his father's pleasure.
It appears to have been " arranged " amicably.

Home has a more serious business in hand five years
afterwards. He came to the Presbytery on the 6th
September 1743, with a document of indictment called a
" libel " in his hand, in which he avers that Katherine Waddel,
his servant, had " grievously reproached " him during the
months of June, July, August, and September of 1742 —
" alleging (as he said) that I had rudely at my own house
attacked her chastity," etc., etc. We leave out all the other
details particularised in the incriminating sheet. He asserted
his innocence, and convinced the Presbytery that he had been
wronged, and thereupon the Presbytery find this scall to be
" a scandalous person," and condemned her to be rebuked
before the congregation at Lauder, her native place — all of
which was duly carried out, and Mr Home absolved from
the scandal.

THE MINISTERS AND THEIR TIMES 213

But another matter, which came up before the same Court
in 1745, proved more formidable for him, and we are doubt-
ful if it has not left an indelible stain upon his character. It
emerges in May of that year, when Alex. Dalziel of Hartside,
James Somerville, George Somerville, George Wight, and
Archibald Smith appeared at Earlston with "a note of
some particulars to be laid before the Presbytery extracted
from books, relative to the complaint " at the instance of the
heritors and elders of Channelkirk, " against Mr Hoom his
manasfement of the Poors Funds." The heritors had been
urged to libel him, but demurred to going so far. The Pres-
bytery, however, took a grave view of the state of affairs, and
met at Channelkirk, and, after investigation, a committee
was appointed to search into the truth of things. This
Committee reported to Presbytery on loth March 1746, and,
as the result, the Presbytery libelled him on the 17th. In
popular slang phrase he was accused of having " cooked the
kirk books " for more than forty years, but in the dignified
terms of the indictment he was charged with having laid
aside a due sense of his character and the duties of his office
in perpetrating " crimes and offences " intolerable in one of
his calling. Having been treasurer of the kirk " collections,"
he had peculated the money and appropriated it to his own
uses, thus robbing the poor of God, deceiving the heritors and
elders, and deliberately falsifying the accounts to conceal
detection. Meetings of session were set down which never
took place, the elders were made to approve proceedings
which never happened, mortcloths were bought for heavy
prices that had been unknown to the parish, and innumerable
" travelling poor " had received doles of cash from him who
were never born, neither had travelled that way.

Mr Home declared his innocence once more, and appealed

2U HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

to the Synod. Meanwhile, a very unsatisfactory ecclesiastical
embroilment took place in the parish. The church had been
left empty, and, apparently, no one went to Communion.
Therefore the elders and leading churchmen met at Glengelt
on 27th May 1747, and concocted a letter to the Presbytery,
" bearing that there is a great number in the said parish of
Channelkirk who will not submit to Mr Home's ministry,
and desiring the Presbytery to allow some of their members
to administer church privileges to them." He had also been
accused of refusing "lines," i.e., disjunction certificates, to
objecting persons, but this he stoutly denied. The letter
was signed by George Wight, William Allan, James Somer-
ville, and George Somerville, but the Presbytery did not
comply with their request. The two first named had indeed
resigned office on 22nd April 1747, but they were reasoned
with and had withdrawn their demission.

The decision in his case was finally settled, not by the
Synod or the General Assembly, but by kindly Death, who
deposed Mr Home according to his wonted fashion, on
Wednesday, the 19th of June 1751, he being about seventy-
six years of age and in the forty-ninth of his ministry. The
heritors and elders met after his burial and examined the
books, and charged his heir and son-in-law, William Eckford,
with the amount of the defalcation, and he having reimbursed
the church funds to the full, the whole sad case came to an
end.

The rebellion of 1745, which took place during Mr
Home's incumbency, did not pass without making its due
impression on the affairs of Channelkirk. The pathetic
minutes of its attendant miseries speak for themselves.
" 3rd Feb. 1745, to 2 highlanders travelling home, 4s."
" 22nd Sept., to several wounded soldiers and wifes with

THE MINISTERS AND THEIR TIMES 215

children, 3s. 2d." " Soldiers at several times (6th Oct.),
3s. 9d." The road had been well filled with such pitiable
creatures. Some of them never went further than Channel-
kirk churchyard ; Prince Charlie and all his pretensions
thenceforth ceasing to trouble them more. " 24th Nov.,
to rebel highlanders' graves, ;^i, is." Again in " 1746,
Jan. and Feb., to wounded soldiers and their wifes travelling
on the road, ^3, 4s." " To soldiers, etc. " (the " etc. " means
wives and children, doubtless), "as in the clerk's account,
£1, 4s." " 3rd August, to several soldiers, lame, with wifes, etc."
" Sept., to some soldiers and yr. wifes." " To soldiers going
south." And as late as in 1747 there is this reminiscent
item : " To a soldier wounded and wanting the hand, 4s." ;
and even in 1748 wounded soldiers, wives and children, are
too painfully present in the records, there being about a
dozen references that year alone. But this was to be ex-
pected, Channelkirk being situated on the main road into
Lauderdale, the route of part of Prince Charlie's army.

The Rev. Henry Home must have found the people of
Channelkirk parish too excited with the presence of the
rebel troops on the 3rd November (Sunday), when they
quartered at the village on their way south, for we find that
there was " no sermon " that day. But the incidents of
Cope's ride, and Prince Charlie's march through our district
on these historical occasions, are best narrated in the words
of those who have highest claims to speak concerning
them.

After the battle of Preston, 21st September 1745,* " He

(Sir John Cope) retired with his panic-stricken troops up a

narrow path leading from Preston towards Birslie Brae,

which the country people, in honour of him, now call Johnnie

* History of the Rebellion^ 1745, vol. i., p. 161. R. Chambers, 1827.

216 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

Cope's road, and striking into another cross-road to the
south, he made with all his speed for the hills above Dalkeith.
He did not draw bridle till he had reached Channelkirk, a
small village at the head of Lauderdale, twenty miles from
the fatal field. He there stopped to breakfast, and wrote a
note to one of the Officers of State, expressing in one
emphatic sentence the fate of the day. He has been de-
scribed by a person who saw him there, as exhibiting in his
countenance a strange and almost ludicrous mixture of
dejection and perplexity. That he was still under the
influence of panic seems to be proved by his not consider-
ing himself safe with twenty miles of hilly road between
himself and the highlanders, but continuing his flight
immediately to Coldstream upon Tweed, a place fully
double that distance from the field of battle. Even here he
did not consider himself altogether safe, but, rising early
next morning, rode off towards Berwick."

Prince Charlie's march is given in the words of the same
author.* " On the evening of Friday, the ist of November,
a considerable portion of the army, under the command of
the Marquis of Tullibardine, took the road for Peebles,
intending to proceed to Carlisle by Moffat. The remainder
left Dalkeith on the 3rd, headed by the Prince on foot, with
his target over his shoulder. He had previously lodged two
nights in the palace of the Duke of Buccleuch. This party
took a route more directly south, affecting a design of meet-
ing and fighting Marshal Wade at Newcastle. Charles
arrived, with the head of his division, on the evening of
the first day's march, at Lauder, where he took up his
quarters at Thirlestane Castle, the seat of the Earl of Lauder-
dale. Next day, on account of a false report that there was
* History of the Rebellion, vol. i., p. 209.

THE MINISTERS AND THEIR TIMES 217

a strong body of dragoons advancing in this direction to
meet him, he fell back upon Channelkirk in order to bring up
the rear of his troops, who had lingered there during the
night. He marched that day (4th) to Kelso."

A similar account is given by Murray of Broughton in
his Memorials* " He (Prince Charlie) moved on ye 3rd, in
the morning, at the head of the first column, to Lauder,
and took up his quarters that night at Lauder Castle." " A
part of the column he commanded being quartered at Gingle
Kirk, a village about four miles short of Lauder, he returned
there early in the morning to bring them up to the main
body, and then began his march for Kelsoe."

Another writer adds a few particulars : f " The Prince
lodged in Thirlestane Castle, and occupied the north room
behind the billiard-room, since known as Prince Charlie's
room. The castle was not occupied at the time, and bed-
ding, etc., had to be brought from an inn in the town, since
demolished."

There is a tradition that Cope slept a night in a house in
Lauder, now demolished. It will be seen that the accounts
here given discountenance this view, but attach the " inn "
tradition to the Prince.

When the Prince reached Lauder on Sunday night, there
was doubtless much need of refreshment. An interesting
account is given of one of these " orders."

" 3 Nov., at Lauder, Sunday.

To 15 pound candels, at 8d., .... los. od.

„ Bread, 6s. 4d.

„ AUe, I2S. 4d."t

* Pp. 236-7.

\ ItiTierary, by Walter Biggar Blaikie, 1897. Note.

XLyon in Mournings vol. ii., p. 117.

218 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

The "drouth," it would seem, as in FalstafTs case, was
greater than the hunger.

The road by which both Cope and the Prince arrived at
Channelkirk is now disused. It was then the main road
between Edinburgh and Lauderdale, and was long used by
the coaches. The dining-room of the manse is built immedi-
ately over it, and it passed between the manse and the old
inn at which Cope breakfasted, and in which the soldiers of
the rebellion lingered on Sunday night, 3rd November.
The inn on the north side of the manse was taken down
about thirty years ago, and the spot is now partly covered by
shrubs, and the diverted old road which abruptly bends round
the north side of the manse grounds.

The peculiar discipline of the Scottish Church of the
last century finds its reflection in one or two entries under
Mr Home's handwriting. The following is a sample : " 1736,
2nd May. — It is reported to the Session that Mrs Inglis
had gone about brandy and brought it home on the Lord's
Day ; appoints the Minr. and George Wight to inquire into
that affair and make their report." The 2nd May was
Sunday, and when next Sunday returns the report runs :
"9th May. — The Minr. reports that he had spoke with
Mrs Inglis anent her bringing home brandy on the Lord's
Day, that she expressed her sorrow therefor, and that he
had rebuked her and cautioned her never to commit
the like in time to come." Similar also is another case :
"6th June 1736. — There was a complaint made by one of
the members that Mr Boost brought home on the Lord's Day
from Lauder, bread and some flesh. Appoints the Minr.
and James Somervail to converse with him." The usual
rebuke and exhortation followed.

THE MINISTERS AND THEIR TIMES 219

David Scott — 1 751 -1792

From June 175 1, when Rev. Henry Home died, till
October of the same year, intermittent services were held
in the church by various ministers. But on the 27th of the
latter month " Mr David Scott, probationer, preached :
Coll. ;^i, 17s. 6d." On 19th January 1752, intimation
was given from the pulpit to heritors and elders to meet
on " Thursday, the 30th instant, to call Mr David Scott,
preacher of the Gospel in North Leith, to be minr. in this
parish." He was born in 17 10, and consequently was now
in his forty-first year. He seems to have been educated at
St Andrews University, and was licensed by that Presby-
tery on 2 1st December 1737, and thus was a probationer
of fourteen years' standing when he came to Upper Lauder-
dale. He was presented by James Peter of Chapel in
December 175 1, and ordained on the 7th of May 1752,
and "entered to his ministry and preached" on the loth
of the same month. The settlement appears to have been
a harmonious one, wonderful to say, for Scott was ordained
at a time when turbulent settlements were the order of
the day. Fifty such cases had been before the General
Assembly during the ten years preceding 1750. The reason
is to be found in the want of uniformity of rule in the Church
as to ministerial appointments. " The law of patronage was
written in the Statute Book, but it was not yet fully recog-
nised in the courts of the Church. The call was still uni-
versally acknowledged as necessary to the pastoral tie, but
there was a difference of opinion as to who were entitled
to give it. There was consequently little uniformity in
the way in which appointments were made. Sometimes

220 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

the patron exercised his right, and sometimes he let it
drop."*

The method in Scott's case was for the patron to present,
and heritors and elders to call him. Both presentation and
call falling on the same person, the appointment was bound
to be pleasant all round. Scott thus had both wind and
tide in his favour, and opening his course in May, he had
also the summer sunshine to gladden his heart. Few
lovelier sights meet the eye than that which is to be seen
on a May morning on stepping from the manse door of
Channelkirk. We are sure Mr Scott appreciated his
" pleasant places."

Church accounts and poor's money having been set right,
the church property was his next care. On 2nd November
1752, "there was produced said day, in presence of Mr
David Scott, minister, William Eckford, James and George
Sommervaills, elders, Two silver Communion Cups, four
mortcloths, three of which are old and very much worn,
a large Communion Tablecloth, measuring twelve yards,
and a small ditto, with ' Channelkirk ' sewed and marked
into them; a pewter plate marked '1709'; a cloth for the
pulpit ; a poor's box with keys, all which were committed
to the Session's charge."

We find many interesting gleanings in the records
which he has handed down to us, but it may be more
convenient to continue the items that bear particularly
upon the church, and then incorporate other matters in
groups by themselves for the sake of order.

The sacred building needed careful attention from time
to time, and was often a source of distraction to the
ministers on this account, and Scott did not miss his
* Church History, Cuningham, vol. ii., p. 334.

THE MINISTERS AND THEIR TIMES 221

share. Fifty-one years seem to have elapsed before he was
called upon to make representations regarding its need
of repairs to the heritors. The last repairs were done in
1724. But when 1775 saw Zion's walls fast becoming a
ruin and a desolation, he spoke in no uncertain voice, and
as his description of the church as it appeared at this time
is so graphic, and so full of the character and spirit of the
last century, we readily copy out his deliverance, as follows :*
" Mr Scott, minister, represented," at a meeting of heritors
17th February 1775, "that the external situation of the
church is so unfavourable that it will prove ever hard to
resist the violence of all storms and tempests to which it
stands expos'd. But there's no remedy for this but
frequent and timely repairs of the fabrick to avoid greater
expenses. And as to the internal structure, that is so mean
and sorry as to have more the look of a common jail than
of the house appropriated to the worship of God." He
had brooded over the matter long and bitterly, it is evident,
and no simile is base enough to satisfy his scorn. He pro-
ceeds : " The walls are extreamly dark and dismal " (the
present minister has seen them as sooty as soot could make
them), "having never received a trowel of plaister since it
was built. The roof most gloomy and admissive of air and
drift at all quarters. The windows are so little and confin'd
that they can scarce admit so much light as is necessary
to read the Bible, so that it requires no small degree of
resolution and patience to attend divine service there through
all the rigours of winter. Our meetings in this season
being so thin and small as to occasion great diminution
of publick funds ; our collections are dwindled to nothing.
The people complain that it's not in their power to attend,
* Heritors' Records.

222 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

and that it's fit to freeze and cramp all the powers of body
and mind. Now, methinks, it argues no small contempt of
God and religion when men think no cost or finery too
much to bestow upon themselves, and yet adopt the
meanest accommodation as good enough for the service
of God. The pious King of Israel could not be easy in
his house of cedar, while the Ark of God dwelt in curtains,
and his wise son. King Solomon, first built the temple of
the Lord before he built the palace for himself And such as
are well disposed will not think much to honour God with
a small part of the substance He, as the Universal Pro-
prietor of all, has conferred on them, I would not here
be understood to plead for decoration, but simple decency
in the house of God." " After this just representation of
the case, the heritors present or by their proxies to the
number of seven, frankly took the matter under their con-
sideration, and narrowly inspected the whole fabrick, and
thought necessary to plaister the whole walls and roof of
the church, that the lights should be enlarged, the floors
of the two galleries mended, viz., that of Carfrae and that
of Glengelt, in order to prevent the dirt and dust from
falling down on those below, who for some time past have
suffered considerable abuse that way. Thought it proper that
both said galleries should be closely plaistered up below."
On 17th March 1775, all this was carried out. His joys
in this direction were multiplied in 1784, when a new manse
was given to him. There had been propositions of patching
up the old one. It measured 32^ ft. long by 14 ft. broad,
inside the walls. The Marquis of Tweeddale advised a new
one, and a new one was at once contracted for. The new one
was to be 37 ft. by 20 ft. within the walls, but it was made
39 ft. long. The walls were up by September of 1784, and

THE MINISTERS AND THEIR TIMES 223

when Whitsunday of 1785 brought the summer once more to
the hills, the minister was snug within his braw new house.

In those days the ministers thought it no disrespect to the
dead to pasture their four-footed property on the graveyard.
The heritors asked Scott to " give up all right of pasturing
the churchyard with his cattle in time coming, to which he
consented." But he had no rights of grazing to give away,
although the grass was his. The heritors found a quid pro
quo, however, when Scott refused to let them "finish the
churchyard coping of the dyke with ' fail ' taken from the
churchyard," and they had to find it in Glengelt lands at last,
and, of course, Borthwick complained ! They were plunder-
ing his land !

Mr Scott raised a process in 1778 of augmentation of
stipend, and on the 27th January 1779, obtained it to a con-
siderable degree, though in consequence of the different
disputes among the heritors the locality was not adjusted
until the 21st January 1789. But even with the augmenta-
tion, his yearly income did not exceed £^ i sterling. In his
petition to the Lords of Council and Session he says : " The
parish of Channelkirk is situated on a very mountainous
country, and, of course, exceedingly cold, the manse and
kirk itself being placed near the top of Soutrahill, so that the
victual raised in this country is of a very bad quality, very
often obliged to be cut green, and badly winnowed." As
the stipend fell to be paid in kind till 1808, unripe victual
would be a great source of misery to him. It would not sell,
it would not keep. In his account book,* dating from 175 1,
he notes that he got delivery of bear from certain parties, and
notes " infield corn " to show its superiority over " outfield corn."
He grumbles that some farmers give him " bad oats," that one
* Channelkirk Stipend Case, Teind Office, Edinburgh.

224 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

has " three pennies too little," and that another is " wanting
a bagfull and a full use and wont." No doubt these were
" contumacious seceders," as he styles them irefully. He
wrestles in law with Borthwick for two stones of cheese, and
to the present day the stipend is usually 12s. richer because
of them. John Pringle, Soutrahill, was accustomed to buy
his meal, but occasionally he had to take it to Dalkeith
market. In 1778, he complains that "people in the parish
are obliged to carry everything to the capital in order to get
ready sale for their different commodities, being the only
method they have of making up their rents, which are at
present come to a great height. This circumstance drains
the country of all the necessaries of life, and obliges the
minister and others standing in need of them to pay double,
and sometimes triple, the prices which he could have had
them at when first he entered the parish." Servants' wages
are also at a great extent. He cannot have a manservant
under £$ sterling yearly, at least, even of the very worst sort,
and if they understand their business, considerably higher ;
and maidservants, £^ or £4 yearly. He also complains of
increased expenses in going to and coming from Presbytery.

Mr Scott mentions a few local matters which are of
interest. A new school was built in 1760. On the 23rd of
August 1 76 1, Dr Jamieson's corpse stood all night in the
kirk, for which ;^I2, 12s. Scots (£1, is. sterling) were
charged. The same month James Wilson, a " contumacious
seceder," is prosecuted for the usual sin, and fined by the
Commissary in ;6^io Scots (i6s. ojd.). The " seceders" gave
him considerable trouble. It appears that although they
did not attend the parish church the fines accruing from
their " penalties " were due the church for the poor, and
refusal to pay resulted in compulsion.

THE MINISTERS AND THEIR TIMES 225

* Mason's wages were, in 1764, 14s, (Scots) per day (is. 2d.
sterling). Labourers' wages, lod. sterling a day. Bad
money was very prevalent. In 1757, the Church sells 16 lbs.
of bad copper at lod. Scots per lb. = ;^8 Scots, or 13s. o|d.
sterling. A coffin costs is. Sfd. ; a stone of meal is. sterling ;
digging a grave cost 3d. ; a new spade cost 3s. 2d. The bell
was rung for a year for 4s. ; for an irregular marriage the
fine was 5s. A new tent for the Sacrament cost £2^ 6s. 4|d.
(sterling).

It is noted that on the 4th October 1772, a man is
buried in Channelkirk who had been murdered at Hunters-
hall, or Lowrie's Den, an event which must have caused
some consternation in the district.

There is a rather striking sculptured tombstone with a
woman's bust roughly chiselled on it, and a dog recumbent
at the base,, which is set against the south-west corner of
the present church. " Thomas Watherstone, Brewer in
Cranston, gave to the poor 5s. (5d.) fori liberty to set up "
this "monument" in memory of his father and mother, in
the year 1781.

The year 1774 seems to have been specially hard upon
the poor, and these " poor " years came rather frequent.
The" heritors and church had always plenty of outlets for their
charity. When a person was taken on the list of " enrolled
poor," an inventory of their possessions was taken by the
heritors' clerk, and when said person died, these were sold
for behoof of the remaining poor of the parish. The hungry
living had mouthfuls in turn of the hungered dead. It was
also necessary that the "travelling poor," yclept "tramps"
in our irreverent days, should be conveyed from parish to
parish if need demanded, and there are many items of
expense to " carting " this, that, and the other one to " Fala."

226 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

In 1784, " Two cartload of women in great distress going
to Fala " is one out of several.

Mr Scott, in the course of his long ministry in Channel-
kirk, had his bits of trials and worries also. He is frequently
"sick," and on 21st and 28th of June, and the 5th of July, of
the year 1772, three Sundays consecutively, he is in bed
and there is " no sermon," " the minister being bad of a sore
leg he gote bruised upon Lauder tent." With our reminis-
cences of tents as peculiar only to fairs and fetes, with
jocund lads and lasses crammed along the rough deal tables,
this " bruise " of the minister's leg might have had profane
suggestions. But the " tent " of those days was strictly
identified with " Sacrament day," and some accident due
to imperfect construction or strength of timber had been
the cause. Perhaps he was a man of robust build, and his
weight had proved too much for the erection. Ten years
previous to his death there are signs of the old man
growing less able for his labours. He is " badly " in June
and July of 1782. "No sermon" occurs many times in
1784, and during the several years given to him between
that and 1792, when he died, there is an increasing number
of times when the church is vacant on Sunday. In 1785,
there are sixteen Sundays on which there are no services ;
in 1786, twenty-two Sundays, and so on, till the year 1791,
when there are thirty-one Sundays on which there is no
service. No doubt, both people and Presbytery were kind
and sympathetic, and the inquisitorial " schedule " had not
yet been invented, and ministers were still supposed to have
some remnant of personal interest left in their spiritual
work. So good and godly David Scott (for not even
ministers were " pious " or " holy " in those days, but just
" gude and godlie ") was permitted to descend to the grave

THE MINISTERS AND THEIR TIMES 227

in peace, not even " visitations of presbytery " breaking in
upon his calm, nor " committees of inquiry " harassing with
obtrusive interrogations his solemn walk through the valley
of the shadow.

It might be permitted to us to reflect here that just as
nations are often more deeply touched by the lingering
dying of its great ones, than by all the renowned deeds
which they have done during their career, so parishes may
sometimes reap deeper spiritual fruit from the passing away
before their eyes of their minister, through clouded days and
years, than from all the services he has ever conducted in
church. ■ The old man is nowadays shunted into respectable
invisibility, in order that the clapper and happer of the
mill of sermons and services may continue under the
" assistant and successor," the " powers that be " being
oblivious to the fact, that the pensive setting sun may have
as fruitful an effect in "deepening the spiritual life of the
people " as when he rises in his strength, and that the old
Samuels may prove as potent influences for good to their
people as the valiant and youthful Davids.

When our minister was laid to rest in the days of April
1792 — he having died on the i6th of that month — he was in
his 82nd year, and the 40th of his ministry. He married,
4th March 1772, Elizabeth Borthwick, who died 30th August
1803.

Thomas Murray — 1793- 1808

Thomas Murray, successor to David Scott, was the son
of Adam Murray, minister at Eccles, and was born 31st
May 1759, a few months later than the poet Burns. On
the 4th of November 1783, he was appointed a teacher in
George Heriot's Hospital, Edinburgh ; but his ambition

228 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

carried him higher, and having equipped himself for the
ministry, he was duly licensed to preach the gospel on the
27th of May 1784, by the Presbytery of Chirnside. He was
ordained by the same court on the 2nd of September follow-
ing ("2nd February 1785," say the Earlston Records), as
minister of the Presbyterian dissenting congregation at
Wooler. After labouring there for five years, he became
assistant to James Scott, minister in Perth, in July 1789.
From there he came to Channelkirk, having been presented
by Hugh, Earl of Marchmont, the patron, on the i8th of
August 1792. On 26th December of the same year, " Rev.
Thomas Murray's call moderate " ; and on Tuesday, 26th
February 1793, he was "addmitted minister of the Gospel
of this parish," * He was thirty-four years of age when he
came to Channelkirk, and at his admission he had alive three
children, viz., Adam, born 27th June 1783, and two daughters,
twins, Anne and Jean, born 6th May 1785. Adam became
a merchant in Greenock.

After looking round his new dwelling, he craves the
heritors in May to cure the manse kitchen of smoke, build
a porch over the door (which then looked southwards
towards the church), putty and paint all the manse windows,
shelve closets and repair locks, beamfill the garret, put a
surbase round the rooms, lay the barn floor, make new stalls
in the stable " heck and manger," and loft part of the same.
He also wants a dyke built round gardens and churchyard,
five feet high, stone and lime, a pine dyke and gate betwixt
the manse and the stable, and, last but not least, a new
pulpit. All these must have been in the last stage of
disgrace, for they were all granted.

Mr Murray is yet remembered by one at least of our
* Kirk Records.

THE MINISTERS AND THEIR TIMES 229

paf ishioners as a strong, powerful man, with whom it would
have been dangerous to differ! Our good old informant,
Thomas Scott, still pulling his " lirigels " at eighty-four years
of age in Oxton, relates that one day in the churchyard, a
" throwch " * was being laid over a tomb. This species of
stone is laid flat and foursquare over the entire grave. The
Rev. Mr Murray stood looking on, but the "hands" being
few, he assisted in lifting the heavy stone into its position.
This he did, balancing the others in lifting, the rest of the
men being at one side, and he alone at the other. This deed
of strength was long commented on.

He had occasion to show his strength in other. ways. In
the year 1797, on the 7th November, at a Presbytery meeting
held in Lauder, " Mr Murray represented to the Presbytery
that.Dr Foord (minister at Lauder) came into his parish
and dispensed the sacrament of baptism without his per-
mission, and this being expressly contrary to the established
laws of this Church, the Presbytery appointed the moderator
to rebuke Dr Foord for said conduct, and which being done
accordingly, it was enjoined to be more attentive to the laws
of the Church in all time coming." An offence like this is
committed in our days with every freedom, the boundaries
of a parish being practically imaginary, but in these days
the minister tolerated no intrusion upon his special pastorate,
and Dr Ford, at the bar of his Presbytery, and rebuked,
as it were, on his own hearth-stone, had occasion to reflect
upon it !

Mr Murray seems to have had a gifted sense of detecting
heresy as well as the ability to administer chastisement to
over-zealous brethren. Indeed, he held the reins of spiritual

* A throwch or thruch differs from a table-stone in lying flat on the
ground without supporting pedestals. .

230 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

supervision more strictly than perhaps would now be tolerated
in the minister. He tells an offender bluntly that he is
unguarded in his speech, " especially when he got the worse
of liquor " ; a state of matters which might easily happen.
Some members of his congregation do not walk with
sufficient propriety, and this is how he deals with them :
"2 1st January 1798, the which day the session being met
(in the church) and constituted, Mr Murray represented to
the members of the session that several individuals of the
congregation had totally absented themselves for many
months past from public worship without assigning any
reason for such improper conduct, and that on a late
occasion the following persons, Mr Somerville of Airhouse,
Mr Bertram of Hartsyde, Mr Douglas of Kirktonhill, and
Mr David TurnbuU in Upton, after attending a funeral to
the churchyard of Channelkirk, at the very hour of public
worship, instead of entering the church, did, in the face of
the congregation, turn their back upon it, and retire to
Airhouse. The session are unanimously of opinion that
such conduct was highly indecent and scandalous, and that
the individuals above-mentioned are not entitled to sealing
ordinances in this society till they shall have satisfied the
session for such improper behaviour. They are also of
opinion that no person is entitled to sealing ordinances who
shall absent themselves from public worship for six Sabbaths
in succession, without offering some reasonable excuse."

A year passes away and matters do not improve. To
the above recalcitrants was united the farmer of Carfrae,
Robert Hogarth, notable in his day. He and Somerville,
especially, seem to have carried defiance to the utmost.
For two years they never came to church. Mr Murray
expostulates, but they appear obdurate, and the case is

THE MINISTERS AND THEIR TIMES 231

referred to a committee of ministers. They advised the
Kirk-Session "not to admit them to the Lord's Supper
unless they should solemnly promise to be regular in their
attendance on divine worship." Notice of this decision
was served upon them, but "they did not think proper to
comply." " In consequence of which Mr Robert Hogarth
was refused a token by the Session on his personal applica^
tion." Somerville did not ask it !

Probably these ostentatious stayaways had not approved'
of Mr Murray's appointment to the parish ! Nine or ten
years do not lessen, but rather, under certain circumstances,
increase the rabid virulence which is created at a ministerial
ordination. Religious rancour is never less deep than the
place it springs from. But we are inclined to believe that
Mr Murray acted under a very high sense of a minister's
duties in such cases, and perhaps did not allow for the
commonplace in others. The case following bears corrobora-
tive evidence of this, it appears. It happens on. the 21st
of April 1799. Charles Dickson, a " bird " in Kelphope,
is of a religious turn of mind, and like most enthusiasts
of the kind, spreads his " views " abroad unsparingly.
He has been thinking of such high matters as the divinity
of the Trinity, and it is noised over the parish that he is
a sceptic ! This comes to the ears of the minister and his
Session, and forthwith Charles, the "bird," is called before
them to answer to " charges." But when " interrogate con-
cerning the report that is spread abroad in the neighbour-
hood of his erroneous principles relating to the divinity of
the Trinity," Charles denies the rumour and declares himself
" soond." He is evidently shaking in his shoes, and is eager
to testify that he " firmly believed the Scriptures to be the
Word of God, the Eternity of the Trinity, and every other

232 HISTORY OF CH ANNELKIRK -

part of" the Christian religion as coritaiined in the Larger
and Shorter Catechism and Confession of Faith," and having
bolted such a bellyful of theological indigestibles, what could
the careful and devout Session do but vouch for Charles'
integrity and good doctrine with all due solemnity ? He
is dismissed with an ''Absolvo te" and a blessing, and no
doubt went up Kelphope glen that d^y with some thoughts
in his head which he did not want every one to know.
"Learn" him to be a sceptic I

Another instance of Mr Murray's vigilance. Over in
Glengelt, in 1803, Robert Anderson, honest man, carrier,^ and
doing some business that waiy across Soutra to the benefit
of the parish and for his own profit doubtless, encroaches
on Sunday hours to a perilous degree, and must be hauled
up and cautioned. Therefore, " Robert Anderson, tennant
in New Channelkirk, compeared, and being interrogate by
the Modr. (Mr Murray), whether it was true or not (as
reported), that the waggons with which he was connected
come or returned from his place on the Sabbath mornings
or evenings, he answered that they had done so sometimes
(although not intended) by the driver's mismanagement or
drunkenness or other accidents, but in time coming he
should take better care," etc., etc. "The Session desired
him, and the" company with which he was connected, to take
better Care and not encroach upon the Sabbath in time to
come, or then they- would recommend their conduct to the
civil law, and also deprive him of church privileges ! "
Truly, there were authorities in Channelkirk in those days.
Condemned to be cut off by Kirk and State for breaking the
stillness of the Lammermoors by a rumbling of waggons on-
a Sunday morning !

Mr Anderson was the first to start a waggon to carry

THE MINISTERS AND THEIR TIMES 233

goods over Soutra (it was four-wheeled and was 'drawn by
two horses), and was succeeded by James Turnbull, Carfrae
milt, who, however, ran four coaches between Edinburgh
and Kelso. The " coach," which was bought up latterly by
the North British Railway influence, was a great advantage
to" the district, and was much missed.

In 1799, Mr Murray acquired a landed interest in the
parish as well as a spiritual one, Heriotshall became his
property on the 13th July of that year.* He held it to 1807,
when it was put under trustees. Another year saw him
numbered with the dead. He died in Edinburgh on the
26th October i8o8.t He was for fifteen years minister
at Channelkirk.

Robust in body, he was also robust and aggressive in
mind. During the whole time of his incumbency he may
be said to have been at constant legal war with his heritors.
He had many disputes with them in reference to his stipend.
In 1793, he raised a process of augmentation and locality ;
and on the 20th May 1795 obtained an augmentation of
three chalders of victual. But several heritors felt aggrieved
at the allocation and went to law with him. It seems that
there was a deficiency of teinds to answer the augmentation
which caused some irritation, and to better the case foi*
himself he raised, in 1807, a process of reduction of valuations
against the Titular and nearly all of the heritors. He died
before he had made much progress with the caSe.

While careful of the ministerial interests "of Channelkirk,
which must have cost him more than he ever gained, a:nd for
which one, at" least, of his successors is grateful, he kept' an
eye upon the good of others. He called for more help to

* Heritors' Records.

t Kirk Records (Presb. Records say, 39th October i

234 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

the poor in the year 1795, and obtained it, and he gives as
his reason for asking an increase to them, that it was a
"time of scarcity" when provisions were very high. The
state of the poor had again specially to be considered in
1 800, " when the prices of meal of all kinds were so high."
It may be noted that in 1800, the farmers of the parish
were : —

Robert Hogarth, Carfrae.

Archibald Somerville, Hillhouse.

Wm. Bertram, Hartside.

Alexander Iddington, Over Howden.

Richard Dickson, Over Bowerhouse.

George Lyall, Mountmill.

John Moffat, Threeburnford.

William Murray, Ugston Shotts.

Edmund Bertram, Hazeldean.

James Mitchell, Old (? New) Channelkirk.

Thomas M'Dougal, Grassmyres.

Peter Anderson, Ugston.

George Thomson, Old Channelkirk,

Walter Chisholm, Waislawmill.

Andrew Lees, Incoming Tenant, Mountmill.

Messer, Nether Howden.

The farms of Airhouse, Kirktonhill, Justicehall, and Collielaw
were farmed by their owners, or a steward. Glengelt was no
longer styled a farm.

Mr Murray also wrote the Old Statistical Account of the
parish in 1794. Among his papers, some of which are still
preserved in the Teind Office, Edinburgh, and which were
used in the stipend cases, there is a letter from Sir John
Sinclair regarding the Statistical Account of Scotland of
which he was the originator, which may be interesting to
some : —

" Sir John Sinclair presents compliments to Mr Murray.
— Is obliged to return to London immediately in order to

THE MINISTERS AND THEIR TIMES 235

set the proposed Board of Agriculture agoing, but cannot
leave Edinburgh without acknowledging the receipt of his
obliging Statistical Account of the Parish of Eccles, which
shall be immediately printed." There is no date, and the
letter is on a torn leaf which had been sealed. Probably
this note was sent to Mr Murray's father, Adam, who wrote
the Eccles parish part of the Old Statistical Account. No
doubt it was highly esteemed and had been entrusted to the
keeping of the minister of Channelkirk by his father.

. CHAPTER IX :

THE MINISTERS AND THEIR TIMES

Rev. John Brown— Characteristics — Stipend Troubles — Odious to
Heritors — Litigation — Deficiencies in the Manse — Parsimony and
Law-cases — Glebe Worries — Church Ruinous — Refuses to Preach —
Church Courts — New Church — Muscular Christianity — Behaviour in
Church — His Death— Rev. James Rutherford — Character— In-
genious and Injudicial — Records — Assistants — Portrait — Rev.
James Walker — Parish and Presbytery Complications — Testimony
of the Records— Resignation and Emigration — Rev. Joseph Lowe
— Student, Assistant, and Minister — Church Declension — Re-
signation.

John Brown — 1809- 1828

If there was any characteristic of the warrior about Mr
Murray, the predominant feature in his successor, the Rev.
John Brown, seems to have been pugiHstic. He is principally
remembered in the parish as a muscular Christian. A broad,
dry grin always precedes any reference to him by the
" originals." And all his taliant heroics are neither dimmed
nor diminished in their narrations, for his "specialities" were
j'ust of such a kind as could attain to immortality in " kirns,"
and Saturday night confabs at small " pubs " and rural social
gatherings. The minister voluntarily divesting himself of
his reverend habits, and clad in the garb of politician, prize-
fighter, or purveyor of small smut, is a spectacle peculiarly
detectable to the countryman, and his reverence never fails
to achieve distinction of a certain kind when he chooses to

THE MINISTERS AND THEIR TIMES 237

so play gladiator to the mob. But we should give a False
impression of the local estimate of Mr Brown were we to
regard him solely from this point of view. The people
remember many of his kind deeds and never forget them
in their " sequels," and he redeems himself amply in their
respect in that he fought a victorious battle with the heritors.
He is a "character," in short, with the parishioners, and
although not regarded as by any means the chief corner-
stone in the Channelkirk temple, yet neither would they
judge him the meanest, and perhaps he may best be con-
sidered as an ecclesiastical conglomerate, a sort of pudding-
stone-character made up of dirt and diamonds.

It is recorded that John Brown was ordained by the
Presbytery of Edinburgh on the 9th of November, following
upon the death of Mr Murray, as minister of the Low Meet-
ing, Berwick-on-Tweed. He was afterwards presented to
Channelkirk Church by John Wauchope, Esq., trustee on
the Marchmont estate, in April of 1809. The Kirk Records
have these items : " 1809, 13 June, Tues. — The call moderate
for the Revd. Jn. Brown " ; and, " 26 July, Wednesday — The
Revd. J n. Brown settled minister."

He was scarcely two years minister in Channelkirk when
he found himself up to the ears in litigation. Mr Murray, as
we have seen, had many disputes with the heritors, and died
while one was in course of process. Mr Brown, on the 3rd
April 181 1, brought a wakening of this process of reduction,
accompanied with a transference against the heirs of some of
the defenders, as also a new process of, augmentation and
locality ; and life for him, while life lasted (and it lasted till
1828), was henceforth clouded over by the stern atmosphere
of the law courts. What a curious record is the life of some
ministers ! Stress and battle to get to college ; struggle and

238 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

semi-starvation while there ; anxiety and desperation to get
into a parish ; misery and misunderstanding while in it ; a
scrimp living, and forced to employ all the power of law to
make that living decent ; and then death, and, of course, deifi-
cation ! For it is only after death that he gets all his
honours and all the praise. Such are the lurid horizons of
many an incumbent's career. Mr Brown was undoubtedly
blessed with a skin fittingly thick enough for his fate. For if
God tempers the wind to the shorn lamb. He also gives
leviathan his neck of strength and heart of stone.

From the beginning, he was naturally regarded as an
odious person by the heritors. Why he should not continue
to starve respectably, as did the other ministers before him, the
heritors could not understand ; even though it was an era of
high prices for all the necessaries of life, and the provision
he claimed was only his own which had been unjustly
ravished from the church patrimony by their ancestors.
They accused him, in the course of the law processes, of low
sneaking, and ungentlemanly and unchristian conduct. The
most noble and the right honourables, as well as the notables
and respectables among them, as much as said in open court
that he had cheated them, and asked my Lords to undo his
doings and give them justice ! * My Lords did not see it,
however, and gravely " adhered to their former interlocutor,"
etc., not having their judgment warped by £, s. d., which warps
the very noblest of minds now and then. But, in truth, we
cannot think that such despicable work comes initially from
the heritors themselves. If ministers could always find it
possible to deal with them personally, we are convinced that
there would be fewer law cases, and more pleasantness
between the manor and the manse.

* Decreet of Locality.

THE MINISTERS AND THEIR TIMES 239

It would seem that Mr Brown had some cause to be
displeased. The sources of his sorrows were many. He
had irritations with his manse. Smoke and damp reigned
there supreme, notwithstanding that in 1803 the "kitchen
vent was warranted . big enough to allow any sweep to go
up and clean it." The Water supply at the manse was also
wretched, and the usual unsatisfactory " well " annoyed
him, and when a supply was attempted from the hill above
it, the operations were carried on in the cheeseparing way
that means penny, wise and pound foolish. Worry came
to him also from his glebe, his church, as well as from his
stipend law cases. He wished the manse repaired and
enlarged. It was "built thirty years ago," he said, and
thirty years at Channelkirk test the best stone -and -lime
structures. By that time, 18 14, Brown declares the manse
" totally uninhabitable."

Meantime larger questions loomed up in connection
with the church, and the manse and offices remained on a
shaky basis, with the exception of some temporary patches
to tide over heavier outlay. There is a reported case about
the manse, i8th June 1818 : 13 S., 1018, Shields v. Heritors
of Channelkirk, in which the Court decided against authoris-
ing additions merely on account of deficiency in size. The
ground was that the manse had been recently erected and
in good repair, or only required repairs to a trifling extent.*

When 1820 comes. Brown's continued clashings with his
heritors have rendered him stubborn and intractable. They
actually wish now to repair the manse. They send trades-
men to the manse for this purpose, but he refuses to let
them into his house. Doubtless he expected the usual
handful of lime, and a door handle here and there, and
* Reports in Signet Library, Edinburgh.

240 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

nothing adequate to the clear needs of the case. Then the
heHtors become injured innocents! It is said Mr Brown
means to let manse and offices go ruinous to further
injure them. Brown in his ire cannot resist sending an
inconsiderate "letter" to the heritors. They shall know
his mind ! In it he expresses the' belief that they have no
intention of consulting his good at all, but as he puts it,
" have in view only their own interest and malicious pleasure,
and are resolved to carry on their defamatory and murderous
attempts against me and my family . . . until they make
an end of us." Defiantly he bids them go on ! Evidently
matters had reached a very bitter pass. Worry from manse,
glebe, church, c^nd stipend cases had truly maddened him.
The heritors, with lifted eyebrows, profess astonishment.
Language so very, very ! They do wish his good : want
to concur with him : want to repair manse and offices, truly.
Won't he, then ? He won't. The lion growls in his den,
defiantly showing his teeth, all of which was extremely
fooHsh in the gladiatorial John. For an appeal was made
to the Sheriff, who decided against him ; but he, despising
small limbs of law, threatens to carry it to the Court of
Session, the foolish gladiator. The heritors, still with
uplifted eyebrows, " express surprise that he should persist
in such an absurd line of conduct," but with crowning
absurdity on their own part recommend him to get more
elders for the church, there being only one ! H'm ! Better
confine themselves to repairs of manses, et hoc genus omne.
Brown in the end lost £•] on the business. But his in-
tentions seem all to have been dictated by a desire to have
things improved and made more respectable. His methods
in reaching this were, perhaps, not justifiable. For instance,
he had set his heart on having the ground levelled decently

THE MINISTERS AND THEIR TIMES 241

around the church. He had asked the heritors to do it.
They refused ; whereupon the militant minister himself
orders it to be done, and takes £2, 8s. 4d. out of the
collections to pay for it. The heritors declare him to have
" appropriated " this money, and treat with him coldly, afar
off, as utterly unworthy of their association.

He derived no more comfort from his glebe than from
his manse. It lay in two parts, one on the height beside
the church, the other in the hollow or haugh through which
Mountmill Burn ("Arras Water") flows. This latter part
was exposed (as yet it is) to the floods which in winter swept
over the Hauch. Extensive sand-siltings, accumulations of
rubbish on the good pasture ground, and broken, drifting
fences were common occurrences. In 1810, "ring" fences
were put round the glebe by the heritors, they agreeing on
14th December of that year to defray the " inconsiderable
expenses," while the minister and conterminous proprietors
agreed to uphold the fences. The fence round the low glebe
was to be made up of a ditch, thorns, and two railings.
This was not satisfactory, evidently, and four years after-
wards the heritors '■'order'" the Rev. John Brown to fence the
Hauch glebe himself Brown thinks rightly that heritors
cannot " order " him to do anything under the sun, and
declares them ultra vires, using his shillelah style in de-
signating them " unhandsome and presumptuous " for
"ordering" him. But, of course, neither could he order
them to fence his glebe, there being no decision of law
on the matter, and his plan was to have asked it as a
courtesy, or failing any agreeable settlement, to have asked
the Sheriff to decide who should do it. But the wrangling
and malfeasance went on, and the glebe question never
got settled in Brown's time.

242 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

The church, however, the gracious symbol of salvation
and peace, proved to be the richest reservoir of acrid waters
to both representatives of Jerusalem and Babylon. If the
heritors would not drain his manse and improve the amenities
of the place ; in the name of piety, they should build a new
church ! This is the Gladiator's resolution. It was on the
14th November 18 14 that he publicly intimated from the
pulpit the necessity for rebuilding the church. But a church
is not a gourd, and cannot grow, just as it cannot die, in a
night. The heritors for two years took up the attitude of
waiting, and so the impatient and fire-fetching Elijah inti-
mated to them on ist November 18 16, that he did not
" intend to preach any more at Channelkirk, after Sabbath
first, until the heritors have provided the parish with a new
church." The disgusted prophet then retires to his desert,
and sits down under his juniper tree. After preaching on 3rd
November, he did not resume again until 25th April follow-
ing. That is, for seven months he " struck work," or rather
would not strike it.

But this was imperious conduct, and utterly indefensible.
The Presbytery " felt much concerned " at his behaviour and
the discontinuance of preaching. They recommend him to
" preach from a tent or any other place convenient." Were the
sheep to starve ? But the heritors found him too good game
to let slip, and " libelled " him before the Synod for not preach-
ing, and they had a right to do so. Brown then appeals to the
Synod, and the Synod refused to sustain the heritors' appeal,
but thought Brown should have given intimation to his
Presbytery before taking action. The heritors next take the
case to the General Assembly, They will hunt him down !
But " corbies dinna pick oot corbies een ; " besides, his cause
had clearly strong recommendations within itself. And the

THE MINISTERS AND THEIR TIMES 243

Assembly sustained both Synod and Presbytery. Brown cer-
tainly acted rashly, but the church was decidedly a " ruin,"
and he believed himself in danger of his life in preaching
in it. The heritors knew this perfectly, yet took no action.
Nay, they sneered at the matter unbecomingly, for after
examination they declare " the church in as good a state
of repair and comfort as it has been for several years past,
and can see no reason why Mr Brown shouldn't preach
as usual." The more disgraceful it was of them to say so,
when, according to the testimony of two authorities called in
from Edinburgh, the "state of repair and comfort" was as
follows : — " The south wall is considerably rent and twisted,
and the under part of the walls all round is very much decayed
owing to the damp occasioned by the floor of the church
being so much sunk below the general surface of the church-
yard — an evil which we consider cannot be remedied, and
renders the house totally unfit for a place of worship. The
timbers of the roof appear pretty fresh, but the slating,
particularly on the north side, is very much decayed. The
seating of the church, with the exception of the east loft and
one seat at the west-end, is in a ruinous and uninhabitable
state."

The opinion of the parish was no less emphatic. When
the agitation grew strong for a new church the entire parish
petitioned to have it built, not on the present site, but nearer
Oxton. In the petition to the Presbytery they say, *' That
the Parish Church of Channelkirk has been these many
years a very cold, damp, and unpleasant house for a place
of worship," and, moreover, " for several months during winter
it may justly be said to be altogether inaccessible even to
men in the vigour of life."

Mr Brown's demand, therefore, for a new church, was

244 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

clearly reasonable, and he was only doing his duty in seeking
the welfare of his parishioners. But while his motive was
good, his method was incommendable and extreme. The
heritors, all the same, have our deepest gratitude in this
place for not removing the church from its present historical
site. For they did build a new church (the present one), and
certainly they did not deal shabbily with it. In size, style,
and comfort it will stand comparison, all things considered,
with most country churches on the Borders. In the Kirk
Records it is said: — " 1818, February 15th, Sabbath. — This
day the new church was opened ; collected 1 3 shill. 7 pennies,
and 6 farthings." Surely peace and amity would then reign
between manse and manor? Nay, verily. The old virus,
unhappily, lived on in their veins, and one notes with regret
that " the heritors have omitted to line the wall forming the
back of the pulpit with wood like the rest of the Churchy nor
lathed it under the plaster to defend the seat from wet and
damp, and so it is rendered uncomfortable and even unsafe for
the minister to occupy." The Presbytery so delivers itself on
inspection. The exception made of the pulpit is suspicious.
But it was remedied, and there it ended. The heritors never
let a chance pass afterwards of sending a shot the parson's
way. Next year they recommend to Mr Brown " not to put
horses, cows, or asses into the churchyard."

There is reason to believe that the minister was rather
an ugly customer to tackle on any ground. His forte was
fighting, and as there is a kind of man in all parishes who
is incapable of understanding any reason except the one
impressed by the closed fist, he was not loath to grant this
advantage to any one who required it when occasion suited.
It was a reversion to Jewish or Davidic methods, doubtless,
and Mr Brown may have blessed God with the Psalmist that

THE MINISTERS AND THEIR TIMES 245

" He teacheth my hands to war and my fingers to fight."
Whether he advanced the high spiritual principles of his
Master in his parish by such practices is another matter.
But the fact itself is too well authenticated to be " ex-
plained away." The consequence followed, however, that an
aggressive attitude on his part provoked resistance on the
part of others, and it soon became a talk in the district,
" Whay wis yible for the menister, an' whay wisna ! " There
is a fearful story told of a meeting of heritors and elders
which took place in a bibulous locality where the minister,
or rather John Brown, was one of the company. Like those
heavenly bodies which travel at such high speed that they
fire up to explosion point on entering the air, and scatter
their fragments over space, so this heterogeneous com-
pany soon found the atmosphere too intensely frictional
and explosive, and found itself blasted out of the inn on to
the high-road, each constituent member, " by some cantrip
slicht," flourishing a table or chair leg, to the utter ruin
all round of ribs, hats, and heads. When the air cleared,
the landlady was discovered weeping over her broken
furniture and shattered crockery. So runs the tradition.
It is pathetically added that the elder, Thomas Waddel,
and the minister, stood " shouther to shouther " in the battle.

These characteristics sometimes reflected themselves in
the minister's pulpit manner, we are told, if we care to
entertain such things. One day, while preaching, the gallery
was unusually obstreperous, and he had frequently to pause
and cast warning glances in that direction. This having no
effect, he singled out the most offensive gentleman and told
him bluntly that if he came up to him he " wad pu' the flipe
ower his nose ! " We do not know how to extenuate such
pulpit eloquence, except by supposing that Mr Brown, having

246 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

long studied the matter, had concluded that he had as good
a right to " flipe " noses as Saint Peter had to not only
"flipe" but slice off ears in vindicating the Master's cause.
Ecclesiastical views are apt to vary widely.

The new church was opened barely three months when
the windows were blown in ! The superstitious saw in this
the cloven hoof of him who, on the strong wind flying, " tirls
the kirks." The sagacious merely remarked that " the
putty wasna hard yet."

We are told that the foundations of the old church are
still to be seen underneath the floor of the present church,
which is the same that was built in Mr Brown's time. The
plan was cruciform. The sundial in the south wall, and
the cross on the top of the east gable, are remnants of the
old edifice. The cross is chipped in one of its arms as the
result of a fall which occurred in recent times, owing to
having been fastened by wooden instead of, as now, by iron
bolts. The old gallery was so low that once at a baptism in
church, a father, when about to "tak' the vows," stepped
over the front and slid down instead of going round by the
stair. So true is it, that when the shepherd ventures outside
the bounds of respect and decorum, the sheep soon learn to
follow.

It might be an easy task to multiply instances of this state
of matters in the parish in the "teens" and "twenties" of
this century. Our object is gained when a correct conception
of the minister and the man John Brown is obtained,
together with a view of the manners of his time and people.
It must not be supposed that he was lacking in kindness and
amiability. Men who can give the hardest knocks have often
the tenderest of hearts. One noble action yet stands out
distinctly in the parish memory. The seasons had been

THE MINISTERS AND THEIR TIMES 247

hard ones for farmers, and they fell with double severity
upon the weaker men of that time. He learned that they
had no seed to sow their crops, having been forced to sell
out everything to pay their debts. The minister came to
the rescue with the grain from his glebe, and for three years
assisted them gratis in this way till better seasons rewarded
them. It gives us great pleasure to record this.

He was not always in good health, although he had a
character for robustness. In 1822, he writes from " Mrs
Cowans, 12 Queen Street, Edinburgh," on the 15th April,
to the chief trustee for Kirktonhill, who was resident in
Edinburgh, enclosing his stipend account for crop 1821.
He says he " is in bad health and needing money greatly."
We think it no wonder. His lawsuits must have been a
terrible drain on his small exchequer. Yet he seems to
have preserved fairly good health till the year 1827, when
on thirty Sundays there was no service in church. He died
on Sunday, 15th June 1828, aged 59, and was buried in
Channelkirk Churchyard on the 20th of that month. A
small plain headstone memorialises the place where he lies.
He was born in 1769, and was thus 40 years of age when
he was presented to Channelkirk. He was a minister for
twenty-five years, and nearly twenty of these he spent in
this parish. He was married to Philis Moscrop, and on
5th May 1 81 5, mention is made of his having "a wife and
child." After his death 'Mrs Brown communicated with the
Earlston Presbytery to get from the fund of the Association
of Dissenting Ministers in the North of England, of which
Association her husband was for many years a member,
some help of a pecuniary kind by paying up his arrears.
She got, through the Moderator, a " decidedly unfavourable "
answer. This "Association" seems to have been purely a

248 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

voluntary one, and was not in connection with the national
churches of either England or Scotland.

In consequence, we suppose, of the lack of respect for the
ordinances of religion in the parish, Mr Brown had great
difficulty in obtaining elders. For many years one only stood
with him,and in the four years immediately preceding his death
all had forsaken him. This is made evident by the minute
which introduces us to his successor, James Rutherford.

James Rutherford — 1828- 1862.

" Channelkirk, 27th December 1829. — In consequence of
the want of elders in this parish for a number of years, the
duties connected with that office have not been regularly
performed. To remedy this defect the Rev. James Ruther-
ford, minister, from the pulpit, requested the congregation
to select four or five persons whom they might think qualified
for that office." *

Mr Rutherford found the ecclesiastical machinery some-
what rusty, and quietly, as was his manner, set to work
to improve it. He was translated from the Presbyterian
congregation at Whitby, Yorkshire, to Channelkirk, and
preached for the first time in the latter place on the 26th
of October 1828. He had been duly licensed by the
Presbytery of Dunse on 31st May 1816, and ordained
minister at Whitby by the Presbytery of Kelso, 14th March
1820. He was presented to Channelkirk charge by the
patron, Sir William Purves Hume Campbell, Bart, of March-
mont, and was admitted i6th December 1828. He was
" under 40 " at the time, and had married Margaret Clark on
the 20th December 1 827, that is, twelve months previous to
his translation. She died 30th June 1837, just ten days after

* Kirk Records.

THE MINISTERS AND THEIR TIMES 249

Her Most Gracious Majesty the Queen began her memorable
reign.

Mr Rutherford's incumbency of thirty-four years in
Channelkirk is marked by a quiet, inoffensive grace of Hfe,
and a suave disposition towards all around him. He is
remembered as a man who shrank from publicity in every
form, and was rather shy than otherwise in the social
relationships of the parish. He was often observed to turn
in his walks and divert his route if a person or cart were
seen coming towards him. He was accustomed to spend
his forenoons in the church alone ; the extreme silence of
the place being more to his taste than the domiciliary bustle
of the manse. He is also reported to have been in possession
of some wealth, and this consideration, joined with an easy
benevolent temperament, brought him frequently under the
guileful ways of the wily mendicant. Certain babies in the
parish took sick ; an aged mother, living at a distance, had
just died, and funds were required to bury her ; and such like
stories were floated over him with the usual loquacious in-
cantations ; and they were never known to disappoint the
needy one, although, it is said, Mr Rutherford subsequently
found out, in most instances, that the special distress had
been entirely imaginary. Doubtless he acted on the
principle that to be charitable to all is the only true method
of relieving the wants of the few genuine poor. This is the
mode which is stigmatised as " indiscriminate," but it is also
the lavish way of nature, which, to effect her end, often
showers thousands of seeds abroad to accomplish one good
plant. Mr Rutherford is yet remembered as gentlemanly in
all his ways, and a man of wide reading and scholarly
habits.

A milder friendship between minister and heritors ob-

250 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

tained during Mr Rutherford's day than was wont in former
years. It is pleasing to note the change. The Nathaniel-
like disposition of the man comes out sharply in a proposi-
tion which he laid before them on the 13th March 1829,
although the astuteness of the lawyer is clearly absent
in him. He had apparently ruminated long on the causes
of dispute between the manor and the manse, and to put
an end to any possibility of such disagreeables arising in
his own experience, had devised a plan of peace, and laid
it on the table for their consideration. He proposed that
they, the heritors, should give him the slump sum of ^270,
and he, in turn, would execute whatever repairs and
additions on the manse, offices, garden and glebe might be
required, and take upon himself all further expense in these
matters during his incumbency. This testified a magnani-
mous spirit truly, but it was not " business." For suppose
the heritors had closed with the bargain and had handed
him the ;^270. Suppose that in the following week Mr
Rutherford had died ! The money was then lost to the
heritors, and the next incumbent would have demanded his
rights from them also in due process, and thus double
expense would have fallen upon them. They, therefore,
could not accept his scheme of peace. But he had proved
himself the possessor of a right and kindly mind. This
comes out again fifteen years later, when, in 1846, he pro-
vided at his private cost the materials for rough-casting
the manse, while the heritors had only the expense of the
labour to meet. Only a minister " with means," — a rare
thing among Scotch ministers — could cultivate such generous
habits. But by such means all friction ceased between
the two interests, and during the whole of his ministry
we do not find that anything except harmony prevailed.

THE MINISTERS AND THEIR TIMES 251

Would that the same record had existed both before and
after his period.

A few items are chronicled in the Kirk Records which
wear the complexion of his day. It is noted, for example,
that a national fast was proclaimed for 22nd March 1832,
on account of the fearful visitation of cholera during that
year. The same thing for the same reason takes place
on the 8th November 1849. The "Disruption of 1843"
cost him an elder and the parish a schoolmaster with the
secession of Mr Dodds. A national fast is held again in
1847, 24th March, on account of the "Famine in Ireland."
Such matters as an eclipse of the sun, 15th May 1836, and
great snowstorms in 1852 and 1859, are faithfully noted.

Mr Rutherford was not a robust man, and on the 3rd
December 1844 we find him obtaining leave from the
Presbytery to have an "assistant and successor." His son,
Cornelius, born 22nd April 1830, also weighed upon his
spirits, as on 5th December 1843 he requests leave of absence
from his charge for two months on account of the ill-health
of this only son, then residing in England. In 1850 Mr
Rutherford " is still in poor health and unable for all the
duties," and again obtains leave of absence. But he does
not seem to have actually had an assistant till 1851, when
John Archibald Dow is found in that position. Mr Dow's
successor as assistant, now the genial and lovable minister
of Maxton, the Rev. Manners Hamilton Nisbet Grahame,
came to Channelkirk in 1854, but only stayed a few months,
as Archibald Brown, now Minister Emeritus of Legerwood,
took over the work from him in December of the same
year. James Forbes, now minister of Cults, Fife, succeeded
Mr Brown in 1858. Mr Peter Christie, now the esteemed
minister of Abbey St Bathans, succeeded Mr Forbes in

252 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

1 86 1, and Mr Rutherford found his last assistant in the Good
Shepherd Himself, who led His servant " doon the dead-
mirk-dale " on the 2nd day of August 1862.

A portrait in oil of Mr Rutherford hangs in the session-
house of Stow Parish Church, access to which can be readily
obtained by any one interested. The brief notice of the
parish incorporated in the New Statistical Account^ ii., is
from his pen.

James Walker — 1862-1885.

The Rev. James Walker's career as a minister in Channel-
kirk appears to have been a chequered one. At the death of
Mr Rutherford the parish seems to have been lapped in
profound repose, the people, the heritors, and the minister
enjoying a common peace, each pursuing the routine of daily
duty in mutual harmony and esteem. Mr Walker was
doomed to unhappier experiences. During his time the
little parish became a boiling cauldron. Presbytery, minister,
teacher, heritors, elders, beadle, precentor, and the general
populace became involved in melancholy complications ; and
heart-burnings such as require generations to neutralise and
eliminate were engendered. Everywhere there is evidence,
during the period between 1862 and 1885, of distraction at
the heart of things. The Records of the General Assembly,
Earlston Presbytery, and the parish of Channelkirk, are
dibbled full of such expressions as " difference of opinion,"
"committee appointed to inquire," "injunction," "explana-
tions," "fama," " famae," "scandalous conduct," "libel,"
" elders' petition," " beadle's petition," " intoxication," " deep
sorrow," " no Sacrament held," " cautioned by Synod," and
such like. Even after the lapse of a decade of years there
appear again, like the haunting underground tones of the

THE MINISTERS AND THEIR TIMES 253

ghost in Hamlet, the expressions, " fama," " Hbel," " allega-
tions of insanity," and much more, which sufficiently indicate
the kind of acid element in which, for so long, the ecclesi-
astical affairs of Lauderdale continued to float. And when
such terms are found in all the precise legality of recorded
statements, it would be surprising if more ample definitions
and stronger flavours were proved absent in the sententious
narratives of the general public. As a matter of fact, gossip
on this topic usually grows grey with the travail of elucida-
tion, and the extemporised colloquial stage soon becomes
crowded with thrilling incidents and exciting situations, and
dramatis personcs too bewilderingly numerous to individu-
alise.

Mr Walker was presented to the charge of Channelkirk
by the patron, Sir Hugh H. Campbell of Marchmont, on the
22nd September 1862. He had been previously licensed on
the loth June of the same year by Dunse Presbytery. The
call was signed by one elder and twenty others. He was
ordained by Earlston Presbytery on the 27th November
1862. He married on 24th April 1867, and had issue. He
resigned the charge on nth December 1884, and Channel-
kirk was declared vacant 6th January 1885. He and his
family emigrated to Vancouver, British Columbia.

The occasion of the departure from the manse was made
memorable by the burning of that building, which in some
mysterious manner caught fire and was wholly destroyed.
The silver Communion Cups were lost in this catastrophe,
and no trace of even the melted silver was ever discovered.
The present pewter ones took their place, but there is no
reason why some generous lover of the church of St Cuthbert
should not replace them with others worthy of the services of
the house of God. The donation would help to modify in

254 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

some measure the terrible details of a sad chapter in its
history. It was during this incumbency that cards were
substituted for the tokens dated 1822. Older tokens were
plentiful, it is said, but were relegated to the strawhouse,
where they got lost.

Joseph Lowe— 1885-1891.

We understand that Mr Lowe was born in 1849 in the
parish of Lundie, a few miles north-west of Dundee, where
his father was " minister's man." The family removed to
Balmerino, where his father, a most respectable and in-
telligent workman, acted in the same capacity for fourteen
years under the Rev, Dr James Campbell. The future
minister of Channelkirk learned there in his youth the trade
of a joiner, and having the ministry in view, must have
worked hard and also learned to " scorn delights and live
laborious days." He matriculated as a " bejant " in St
Andrews University for the session 187 1-2, taking the two
classes, English and First Mathematics. He then spelt his
name " Low." He entered St Mary's Divinity Hall there in
the winter of 1875-6, at the age of 26, and passed through
the usual three years' curriculum. He was licensed by the
Presbytery of Dundee on the 3rd July 1878, as a preacher
of the Gospel. Principal Tulloch, of St Andrews, was instru-
mental in obtaining for him an assistantship in West Church,
Perth, under the learned and distinguished scholar, the Rev.
Dr Milne. He afterwards began a mission in Loanhead
under the Rev. Mr Burdon, and made the nucleus of the
church there which is now served by the Rev. Alexander
Stewart. He left Loanhead to be assistant to the Rev. John
Milne, Greenside, Edinburgh, and subsequently acted in a

THE MINISTERS AND THEIR TIMES 255

similar capacity to the Very Rev. Dr James Macgregor, of
St Cuthbert's.

Mr Lowe was one of four candidates who preached for
the vacant charge at Channelkirk, and the system of
patronage having been abolished, he became the choice
of the congregation as minister on 6th April 1885, the
call being signed on that date by seventy-four members
of the church. He was ordained to the church and parish
on the 7th of May of the same year.

The Presbytery Records show a strange declension
in the church membership during his ministry. In 1887
there were 181 names on the Communion Roll; in 1889,
162; in 1890, 146; in 1891, when he resigned, 142. The
number of members who communicated in June 1885, the
first year of his ministry, was 112. In May 1891, his last
year, 43 only communicated. He resigned his charge on
the 22nd June of that year by letter sent from Edinburgh,
where he resided, to the Moderator of Earlston Presbytery,
in which he says, " I am sorry that through continued in-
disposition I do not expect to be at the meeting, but I
hope there will be no injustice done to my case on that
account."

His resignation was in due time accepted, and the church
declared vacant on the 12th July 1891.

CHAPTER X

THE ELDERS, BEADLES, CHURCH, AND CHURCHYARD

Elders since 1650 — Beadles since 1654 — The Mortcloths — Salary — The
Church — Style of Architecture — Mode of Worship — Kirk Bell
■ — Rural Religion — Attendances at Church — The Roll — Church
Patrons — The Churchyard — Consecration — Notable Tombstones —
Resurrectionists.

The following is as complete a list of Channelkirk elders
as we have been able to make. The years opposite the
names are those in which they are first mentioned : —

1650, William Wight, "elder and deacon."

„ Adam Somerville, Airhouse, " elder and deacon."

„ Robert Wight.

„ Alexander Riddell, Hartside.
1658. " The minister and four elders."
1661. James Somervell in Headshaw.
1664. William Knight, Airhouse.

„ William Waddel, Ugston.

1697. Adam Knox.

„ George Somerville.

1698. William Brunton.

1 701. Thomas Brounlies.
„ George Kemp.

„ James Waddel.

„ John Lothian or Loudon.

„ James Wetherston, Wederston, or Waterston.

„ James Waddington.

1702. James Tait.

1744. James Somervail, Airhouse.
„ George Somervail, Carfrae, died in Kirktonhill, 1779.

Not ordained till
1833, though act-
ing as elders.

THE ELDERS, BEADLES, CHURCH, ETC. 257

1744. George Wight.

„ William Allan.
1752. William Eckford, Kelphope, died 1764.
1758. John Borthwick, Crookston.

„ Alexander Dalziel, Hartside.

„ Robert Clark, Ougston.

„ William Renton, Wiselawmiln, died 1787.

„ James Thomson, Nether Bourhouse.
1795. Robert Weddal.

„ Thomas Watson.

„ John Tait.
1799. Thomas M'Dougal.

„ Thomas Waddel (see " Rev. John Brown.")
18x0. James Watherstone.
1812. William Cessford, Bowerhouse, died 1824.
1829. Nichol Dodds, teacher, Ugston.

„ David Scott, Ugston.

„ William Cessford, carpenter, Ugston,
went to America in 1836.

„ John Gray, tenant, Midburn.
1836. William Tait, Parkfoot.

„ Robert Mason, Justicehall (left the parish 1844).

„ William Gray, Midburn, nephew of above John Gray.
1845. James Wilson.

„ Alexander Davidson, teacher, Oxton.

„ William Forrest.
1850. Gideon Renwick.

„ Thomas Darling.

„ John Renwick.
1852. James Stevenson.
1867. David Walkinshaw, farmer, Burnfoot.

„ James Bathgate, farmer, Bowerhouse.
1888. William Bell, joiner, Oxton, resigned eldership 9th September
1896, and died 20th December 1898.

„ Rowaleyn William Matthewson, merchant, Oxton.
1893. William Bald, steward, Hartside, died 17th July 1898.
1898. Thomas Waddel, tailor and clothier, Oxton.

There are thus fifty-three names of elders who have
served Channelkirk since 1650. The writer can only speak
of those whom he has known personally during his in-
cumbency.

258 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

William Bell, joiner in Oxton, was a man of warm
religious feelings, specially of the " evangelical " or " revival "
type, and took more than a common interest in the services
of the church. The writer remembers, with gratitude, the
help he rendered in inaugurating the new Sunday School, as
he was the only person who volunteered to do duty in that
capacity. He was genial and hearty in his manner, and was
much respected in the community. His attendance at church
was exemplary, and the day was stormy indeed that pre-
vented him from occupying his wonted seat. For some
reason, which he never explained, he resigned his eldership
on 9th September 1896. He was sensitive and retiring in
disposition, and deeply resented certain actions of the Kirk-
session, especially in abolishing the Fast Day, as he con-
sidered it unjust to the ploughmen in depriving them of a
holiday. He latterly " lifted his lines " and joined Lauder
parish church, in which membership he remained till his
death on 20th December 1898. He died suddenly of palsy.
He is buried in Channelkirk churchyard.

William Bald, steward on Hartside farm, became an elder
in April 1893, and was in all respects a faithful and worthy
man. He was married and had several of a family. His
frank and cheery manner made him welcome in every
society. The sun and the breeze were both in his ways and
words, and his attention to kirk matters strict and exemplary.
He became an elder for the sake of the Church and the
advancement of its work, and steadily to the end he set this
purpose before him. His connection with the eldership was
entirely pleasant to all concerned. On the last day in which
he attended the Lord's Supper, he did so with great effort,
as the disease which was to carry him away then lay heavily
upon him. Alone, he served the tables that May day when

THE ELDERS, BEADLES, CHURCH, ETC. 259

he could scarcely stand, and cold perspiration stood constantly
on his brow. He did it out of a strong sense of duty to his
Master and His Church, and the writer has ever regarded the
act as a deep reproof to the unhelping spirit which pervaded
the Church at that time, and as a proof that even among
the humblest there are to be found examples of the purest
heroism. He was very straightforward and sincere. But
to us he always appeared at his best at the bedside of the
sick. His cheery, hearty words were invigorating and
uplifting, and no woman could nurse another in her dying
hour with more than his care and tenderness. No man
was more welcome at the manse, and we hope the day will
be distant when he is forgotten there. He had a quiet
fund of native humour which gave his conversation a piquant
flavour, especially when he recounted the reminiscences
of his early life, or his experiences at Hartside with the
"tramps." His kindness to all such was proverbial, and
the first question a tramp now asks on coming into the
parish is, " Can yez tell me the way to Hartside ? " In the
barn, in the stable, somewhere among glorious straw, Mr
Bald could bestow them for the night, and we have
heard him say that he never found a thing astray, or dis-
covered any intention to do any injury on their part. He
died of leucocythaemia, and was buried in Channelkirk
Churchyard. The grave is situated on the south side, west
from the " Somerville " gravestone, but in the centre of the
ground, between the church and the manse garden wall, a
memorial stone marks his resting-place, and few deserved
one better.

During Mr Bald's last weeks of life, an attempt was
put forth to obtain as many elders as make at least a
"quorum." Three are required in any Kirk-session to

260 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

accomplish this, and in our case a Presbytery assessor was
required to furnish the requisite number. The Rev. William
Rankin, minister at Legerwood, had always been sent by
the Presbytery, and now that he also has followed Mr Bald
" doon the dead-mirk-dale," we mention his name with
mingled feelings of sorrow and gratitude. Always obliging
and kind, his company at the manse on these occasions was
much appreciated, although, without doubt, the presence of
an assessor from another parish to do work which belongs
to those within its bounds is an unworthy stain on the
honour of church members who, while professing to serve
in the vineyard, say, " I go," but go not. After the usual
obstacles had been met and subdued, two worthy members,
Messrs Matthewson and Waddel, both from Oxton, con-
sented to act as elders, and Mr Bald was delighted at the
prospect. All the legal steps were fulfilled with a view to
their admission, but on the day when they stood before the
congregation as elders of the parish (19th of June 1898),
Mr Bald was, alas, denied the pleasure of being present to
give them the right hand of fellowship. He lay in Edin-
burgh Infirmary looking shortly to be himself promoted to
the glorious company of elders that surround the throne
on high ; so that Messrs Matthewson and Waddel entered
upon office to take up the work which Mr Bald had
practically laid down, and which Mr Rankin, in his youth
and in the midst of his good work in Legerwood, was so
shortly to commit to other hands also. But the men were
worthy to follow in their footsteps, and we trust it may
be long ere their place is vacant or their presence missed
in the church.

Mr Matthewson, merchant in Oxton, was, perhaps, the
most obstinate opponent the writer had to his becoming

THE ELDERS, BEADLES, CHURCH, ETC. 261

minister at Channelkirk. The dicebox of kirk-electioneering
is often presided over by trick-loving Pucks, and in this case,
the writer, to his dismay, found himself confronted in the
contest — what a detestable word to be found in such an
affair ! — by his college friend, the Rev. R, D. Mackenzie, now
minister at Kilbarchan. Mr Matthewson was leader of the
Mackenzie voters. But, with true gentlemanliness, when the
election was declared against his wishes, he at once laid
aside all party feeling, and recognised that personal matters
must yield to higher considerations if the ministry is to
maintain its high place as a sacred office far above all whims
and passions. Accordingly, he was chairman at the writer's
ordination dinner in Carfraemill Hotel (23rd Dec. 1891), and
no one could have received greater help, or more attention
in the parish as a stranger, than fell to the lot of the minister
on entering then upon his duties at Channelkirk. We are
happy to say that the relationship so formed has never
changed, and mutual respect has only deepened into mutual
friendship as the years have passed.

He has done much good work in the district, and if in
several ventures he has not achieved all he wished, he has,
at least, saved the parish from becoming a mere place of
dreams, and has decidedly improved the pace. For example,
after meetings and motions innumerable had transpired
about obtaining a telegraph between Lauder and Oxton,
and when every one had believed the matter impossible, Mr
Matthewson still kept it alive, negotiated alone with the
authorities, put the necessary time and expense into prose-
cuting it, and the present extension from Lauder to his place
of business in Oxton is the result. In such an old-world
district as ours, this progressiveness meets, of course, with
much solid, though silent, resistance. The townman, as

262

HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

Emerson notes, goes with the town clock, but the country-
man moves only with the law of gravitation, and where
stobs are laid down opposite hedge-slaps, to be set in their
place three years afterwards, and subjects of consideration
can be postponed for a six years' interval, it is not to be
supposed that Mr Matthewson has found his public spirit
always a pleasant possession. Too much energy is discom-
forting to many good folks, and it has been a matter of
interest to notice how, on several occasions, almost the entire
parish has been combined against him. No doubt, the com-
binations have been good-natured ones, as a whole, and we
believe no one is more highly respected in our district than
he is. He is characterised by fearless outspokenness, and
states his opinion of men and things with a vivacity which is
sometimes disconcerting. This, however, is only his public
attitude towards all that affects the welfare of the district, for
in private life he is the most genial of men. He has proved
himself a true friend of the community. The Church being
by far the foremost institution in any parish, the true level
of public spirit of the best kind is marked by men's attitude
towards it, and their ability to fill its offices. A district is
rich or poor in proportion to the men it can furnish to
minister to the highest wants of human nature. Mr
Matthewson was a parish councillor ; he was for many years
a member of the School Board ; in all social meetings he
was, and is, a leader. The Sunday School has received
yeoman service from him and his family. In these his
energy is tireless, his services and time given gratuitously
and cheerfully, and the whole parish is indebted to him for
his interest and work in them, and the high example he
shows in all-round helpfulness.

Thomas Waddel, tailor and clothier in Oxton, was

THE ELDERS, BEADLES, CHURCH, ETC. 263

ordained an elder on 19th June 1898. He bears a name
which has been associated with Channelkirk eldership
through a longer period than any other name in the parish.
Perhaps, also, it is one which is associated most with that
ability which in our district has risen higher than mere
commercial pursuits, and the ploughing of the fields, and
getting gain. Some of the Waddels are notable artists and
musicians, some manufacturers, some parish councillors ; all
are characterised by ' in.tellect ; all have prospered, and all
are respectable. The Waddels can be known anywhere by
their massive heads, dome-like foreheads, and large, clear
eyes. The name is, we believe, the same at root as Wedale,
the ancient name of an extensive district of the Gala Valley.
Sometimes spelt Weddell, it is a name often met throughout
the Borders.

Mr Waddel is a fine type of the Scottish elder. Calm
and deliberative in all his ways, cautious in speech and quiet
in manner, his robust yet erect form and reverential air
blend very becomingly with the duties that fall to his share
on Sundays, and more especially on Communion days.
He is retiring and reserved, and although interested in all
that affects the parish, politically or otherwise, his voice is
seldom heard, and is never prominent at any time. He is
warm-hearted and sympathetic, without fads, and his sunny
nature gives a touch of humour to his conversation, which is
very pleasing. Happy the minister that has such elders !
We at least think ourselves fortunate, and pray God we may
be long spared to do His work together, in His Church and
among His people.

264 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

The Beadles.

The beadles of a parish are usually men of some
character, if not men of mark, and in their sphere have to
be reckoned with both inside and outside of the church.
They possess as definite and as privileged a place in the
estimation of the people as do the ministers themselves,
and, as a rule, they deserve it. Working much alone in
empty churches and empty graves, their moods take the
sombre yet thoughtful tone of these places, while familiarity
with them imparts also a freedom in regard to sacred things,
which occasionally broadens out into humorous traits of a
grim, taciturn kind not easily definable. In every case they
are men apart. Their caste is unique, and the beadle's
place is sometimes more held in awe than that of the elder
or the parson. The Channelkirk beadles have, in days
gone by, well sustained the varied reputation of their
guild.

It is in the year 1654 that we first catch a glimpse of
David Kool digging away at the graves in Channelkirk
churchyard, and receiving a small sum from the collections
in remuneration. Between his name and that of William
Brown, who appears in 1754, exactly one hundred years
afterwards, the beadle is but a shadow, and a nameless one.
" The beadle " is mentioned several times during that
long period, but his name is not given. William Brown
did not hold the office many years after 1754, as in 1757
Robert Fairgrieve takes the bell-ringing in hand. David
Henderson succeeded him in 1767, ten years later. After
David came James Douglas in 1772. James Henderson
came next in 1793, and he reigned thirty-eight years. He
was the " King of the beadles." He is yet remembered

THE ELDERS, BEADLES, CHURCH, ETC. 265

as a man of fine build, not tall, but broad and stout, as a
"seaman bold," with a nose hooked like the eagle's beak.
He was a great snuffer. Coming under the notice of Lord
Lauderdale, his lordship put him into livery, and thus, " not
arrayed like one of these," James strutted about the dale
till an advanced old age, proud of the " Yirl's " uniform and
patronage. Many a shilling fell to him in this way in order
that he might indulge his favourite "sneeshin'," The old
chestnut is related of him that when asked how he was
" gettin' on," he replied, " Hoot, no ava ; I haena buried a
livin' sowl this sax weeks."

This connection between our beadle and the Earl of
Lauderdale recalls the relationship between that illustrious
family and the beadle of Lunan. The able and genial
historian of Arbroath thus narrates the story : — " A remark-
able story, a romance of the peerage, is connected with two
of the successive beadles of Lunan, father and son. The
office of beadle in the parish was for a long time virtually
hereditary in a family of the name of Gavin. It was held
in 1720 by James Gavin, who showed hospitality to the
skipper of a Dutch vessel which was in that year wrecked
in Lunan Bay. The skipper married the beadle's daughter,
and returned with his wife to Holland. Afterwards, the
beadle's son, Alexander, succeeded to his father's office,
and his son, David Gavin, became a partner in a commercial
house in Holland, where he married his cousin, the skipper's
daughter. She died soon afterwards, and David Gavin,
having amassed a fortune, returned to Scotland, where he
bought the estate of Langton in Berwickshire, and married,
in 1770, Lady Betty, daughter of the Earl of Lauderdale.
By this marriage he had three daughters, one of whom
became Marchioness of Breadalbane, mother of the late

266 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

Marquis and of the Duchess of Buckingham. Alexander
Gavin, the kirk beadle of Lunan, was thus the father-in-law
of an earl's daughter, the grandfather of a marchioness, and
the great-grandfather of a marchioness and a duchess."*

John Gibson succeeded James in 1831, and after five
years' service he gave place to Laughlan M'Bean, who
became beadle in 1836. "Lauchie" was twenty years in
charge, and many stories are told of him, one or two of
which seem to suggest that he was absent-minded to a
degree. David Tait came in his place in 1856. He is
spoken of as having the most retentive memory for local
affairs of all the people in the parish. We can easily believe
it : his sons, Robert and James, our present roadmen, having
received their father's mantle in that respect. David Tait
resigned in 1862, and John Lindsay took his place. He was
uncle to the present beadle, Robert Lindsay, who began
his duties in the year 1874-5, ^^^ still discharges them
regularly and well. Robert is a man of strong character
and resolution, and has the courage of his convictions.
He is perhaps more feared than loved, but he has sterling
honest qualities which compel respect. The writer has
known few men more conscientious in the fulfilment of duty.
First impressions do him injustice. He is credited with
a nature somewhat unsympathetic, and with speaking his
mind vigorously. He is nevertheless genial and kind, and
has many humorous stories of bygone days. Genuinely
Scotch, he possesses a scornful resentment of anything like
fine palaver in the pulpit, and has scant respect for " grand
English." He is a splendid workman, and never spares
himself in what he does, and when it is done it can be
trusted. It is impossible to give any man higher praise.
* Aberbrothock Illustrated^ P- SS-

THE ELDERS, BEADLES, CHURCH, ETC. 267

In most country parishes the beadle also acts as sexton
and gravedigger, and is indispensable at funerals. Mortuary
notices are frequent throughout our old Parish Records, and
cullings from these may have a certain interest to many.
The mortdotk, for example, discontinued now for many
years past, used to be a familiar object on all occasions
of burial. In 1683 the fee for its hire was £i,6s. 8d. Scots
(2s. 2fd. sterling), and in 1684, £1, is. (is. 9d.) ; 13s. 4d. for
a child. A new one in 1705 cost ;^25, 9s., with ^24, 12s.
for fringes (which " fringes " is said to be a false entry, how-
ever), or a total of £^, 3s. id. sterling. In the same year
a " mortcloth of sackcloth " cost for making, i s. Scots
(id. sterling). In 1706, a "child's mortcloth," that is, a
pall to be used over a child's coffin, cost ;^I3, 5s. Scots
(^i, 2s. id. sterling), and the making of it, 7s. (7d.) A
litter cost ;^i, 6s. (2s. 2d). In 1748, a new mortcloth cost
the Kirk-session £62, 8s. (;^5, 4s.), replacing one made in
1732 at a cost of ^15, 12s. For its use in 1752 and on-
wards the charge was £2, 2s. Scots (3s. 4d. sterling),
1 6s. Scots for the smaller one, and 6s. for a child's. These
fees seem to have held till 1775, when they were raised to
5s. sterling, and 2s. gd., the latter charge including the litter.
In 1804, "the Session this day (23rd March) took under
their consideration what the prices of the different mort-
cloths should be when they were given out, and they agree
that the best mortcloth shall be six shillings within the
parish and seven when it goes out of the parish, besides
a shilling over and above to help to keep the churchyard
dyke in repair. The second mortcloth to be both within and
without the parish three shillings and twopence, and a
sixpence over and above for to help to keep the churchyard
dyke in repair. The small mortcloth to be sixteen pence

268 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

both within and without the parish. The beadle is to have
one shilling off the best mortcloth money, eightpence off the
second, and tenpence off the small mortcloth, for taking care
of them. He is also to have one shilling and sixpence for
digging big graves, and ninepence for digging small graves."

" At same time the Session examined the accounts
respecting the buying of the new mortcloth, etc., and finds
as follows : —

1 . To velvet, etc., for the new mortcloth, with expense of

buying, amounts to . . . -£375

2. To the tailor for making the new mortcloth and

mending two old ones, with silk and thread, . o i8 6

Added, is ^451 1*

After 1834, the fee varied. We note 5s., 3s. gd., 2s., 3s.,
and in 1848-49, is. The people appear to have latterly
almost wholly discarded the use of the mortcloth. The
preference of the present day is for simplicity in burials.
Funerals are devoid of the garniture of woe which formerly
obtained on such occasions, and while the coffin is carried
from the hearse to the grave without any drapings, the
mourners follow it without that display of crape and white
" weepers " (bands of cambric sewn round the coat sleeve at
the wrist), which was so common to a former generation.
Those attending nearly all come on foot where distances are
not great, but it was customary of yore for a large proportion
of the mourners to ride on horseback, and a troop of boys
were wont to accompany them with the expectation of
receiving a penny or twopence for " holding the horses " at
the entrance to the churchyard until the owners should
return from the interment. In consequence, a funeral then

* Kirk Records.

THE ELDERS, BEADLES, CHURCH, ETC. 269

sometimes meant a holiday to the school. In 1733, a coffin
cost ^3 Scots (5s. sterling); in 1775, 5s. sterling; in 1776,
6s. ; in 1783, 7s. ; in 1796, 9s. ; in 1804, 12s. ; but these were
cases where the poor were buried at public expense.

Proclamation of marriage in church cost, in 1705, 14s.
Scots (is. 2d. sterling) ; and this seems to have been the fee
till 1843. From November 9 of that year until November
27, 1885, we have no record of these fees. On that date
the proclamation fee is set down at 2s. 66. This is the
charge at present.

For "ringing the bell" a year the beadle received in 1705
the sum of £2, 8s. Scots (4s. sterling). In 1721 there is
this entry, " To the Schoolmaster and Bellman, and other poor
people, ;^8, 4s. This fee continued till 1795, when it was
raised to 12s. sterling; in 1807, to 15s. 4d. ; in 1808, to ;^i ;
and from 181 1 till 1836 it was £^, 3s. From 1833 till 1835 it
was £4, 4s. In 1837 the beadle's salary is stated at £2, 2s.
yearly; in 1847 it is again £2, 3s. In 1855 it was £2.
This was supplemented, however, by the heritors, who made
the beadle's salary, in 1873, £6. No money from church
funds appears to have been given to the beadle after 17th
May 1874, when £1 was paid to John Lindsay. The
heritors bear the whole expense from that to this date, and
the sum paid at present is the same as in 1873.

The Church.

The original Church of Childeschirche, if we may assume
it to have come into existence between the seventh and
ninth centuries, would be a very humble structure erected
out of the rough materials which the district afforded.
Rough stones chipped with a hammer, turf and fail, would

270 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

compose the walls, with a roof made of the trees growing
plentifully on the spot, protected by thatch made of grasses.
In the thirteenth century, as we know from Bellesheim,
churches were enjoined to be built of stone — the nave by
the parishioners, the chancel by the rector, and the same to
be duly consecrated and furnished with proper ornaments,
books, and sacred vessels. In 1627, Channelkirk Church is
mentioned as being in the usual form of a cross. It was in
size incapable of accommodating the 400 communicants of
the parish, and the choir was without a roof In 1653, ten
thousand divots were used in repairing it. It was first
roofed with slates in 1724. The slates were brought
from Dundee, and the trouble and expense must have
been considerable. But on a church with such a lofty
exposure thatch would be even more so.

The present church was built in 1817. The old struc-
ture was much smaller, had very low galleries, and a common
earthen floor. The foundations of it, it is said, are yet to
be seen below the present church flooring. When it was
building, it is reported that many bones and skulls were
exhumed from the centre of the old structure and carelessly
cast out on to the field, where they rolled downhill. They
must have been buried before 1560, for no burials have been
made within churches since Protestant reforms were in-
augurated. The entrance seems to have been from the
west instead of from the east as at present. In 1775 the
then minister characterised it as more like a common jail
than a place of worship. There was little light, the snow and
rain came through the roof, the walls were dark and dismal,
and it was colder that the people could endure. The heritors
have a bad record in connection with Channelkirk Church.
If the minister of 1816 had not refused to preach any more

THE ELDERS, BEADLES, CHURCH, ETC. 271

in the structure they called a church, the old building would
perhaps have been allowed to do duty to this day ; that is
to say, all that the owls, and rats and mice, and dry rot had
left of it. The minister's determined, if unwarrantable, act
brought matters to a crisis, and the present fairly handsome
building was the result. " Out of evil still educing good."

At that time there was an eager desire on the part of
many parishioners to remove it to the neighbourhood of
Oxton, a scheme which was happily frustrated. Long may
it stand in its old historical place, overlooking the beautiful
dale of Leader, to which it first became the visible symbol
of the Eternal and Unseen.

The style of architecture of the church is perpendicular
Gothic. The doors are finished with Tudor arches, the
windows with divided mullions and transomes of stone. The
belfry on the west gable, with its acanthus ornamentation,
and the unpretentious cross on the east, are both modest
in taste and character, and suitably befitting a rural place
of worship. The chief eyesore is the architectural tumour
on the north side of the building which the inside stair
leading to the gallery has swollen outwards for its own
relief Galleries seem fatal additions to churches, both in
principle and detail, and never fail to mar the outside and
inside of the building which is afflicted with them. A
corresponding protuberance on the south side might have
given to the eye an illusive show of transepts, but, as it is,
the church has to content itself with a warty dignity, a
deformity, however, which has not been shown in the photo-
engraving given as frontispiece. After all, its grandest
ornaments are doubtless the hills and glens which lie
around it, and the sincere company of honest people who
fill it Sunday after Sunday.

272 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

It has been several times rewooded for dry rot ; damp
and lack of ventilation being the principal causes. During
the late minister's time, it was painted inside and varnished,
at some expense. Since coming here, we have seen it all
black with soot, owing to the heating apparatus breaking
out, and thereupon repainted and cleaned. Floors have
been laid for the first time with matting, the doors covered
with crimson baize, and the pulpit refitted with silk trim-
mings. There would be much gratification on the part of
all concerned if our absentee landlords or our absentee
tenants (for their past sins !) were to put in memorial
windows, or gift an organ to the church. It lacks these
to give a sense of completion to an otherwise graceful and
commodious place of worship. At the same time, the
writer feels the claim that simplicity of externals has in a
Zion so thoroughly rural. A distinguished visitor once said
when the subject was mooted, " Well ! one longs now and
then to have the old style of worship in all its sincerity
and plainness, and if one cannot shake one's self free here
of the masterfulness of organs and choirs, where are we to
do it?" We acknowledge the force of Ruskin's statement:
" The Church has no need of any visible splendours : her
power is independent of them, her purity is in some degree
opposed to them. The simplicity of a pastoral sanctuary
is lovelier than the majesty of an urban temple." *

Looking round on the simple mounds in the church-
yard, the calm solemnity of the hills, the quiet truth of
field and correi and spreading wood, one is forced to admit
that in sacred things one may have far too many artifici-
alities, and though the present minister would rejoice to
hear a fully equipped orchestra lead the praise of God
* Seven Lamps, chap i.

THE ELDERS, BEADLES, CHURCH, ETC. 273

among surroundings not so near the rebukes of larks and
mavises, nor so foreign and far away from the stern, rough-
throated praises of our peasantry, he has to say that he
has heard the old Scotch psalms lifted up by an open-
air assembly in Kelphope Glen, and on the breezy braes
of Clints and Collielaw, in such a way that put every " help
to devotion," either of wind or windows, completely out of
comparison. It is well, indeed, to aim at realising ideals
and "keeping up to the time," but a sense of the fitness
of things is also becoming. The passion of worship should
never lack the enthusiasm of the past, however it may
soar on the aspirations of the present, and when the soul of
old times is cut out of the praises of ordinary Sundays,
and the spirits of our fathers are no longer heard in the
Communion psalms, then national worship seems to have
lost part of its grand continuity and strength, and a bar
is dropped from the great fugue of the centuries. No
native worshipper has ever mentioned in our hearing
that an organ would " improve " the " services " : some of
our townified visitors have done so : but we have heard
several times, from parishioners, denunciations, " not loud
but deep," upon any attempt which should change " the old
order." The minister believes strongly that the desire
and initiative should come from the congregation in all
that concerns changes in forms of worship, and consequently
waits for the moving of the waters. If, then, it should arrive
in the full tide of orchestral grandeur, the deeper will be
his satisfaction.

No part of the old church seems to have been pre-
served in the structure of the present one, except the sun-
dial, and, perhaps, the cross. These are noticed under
" Antiquities," chapter xxiii.

274 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

The church is in length of outside wall, 50 ft, inside
wall, 44 ft., in breadth of gable wall, 34 ft. 8 in. outside
and inside, 28 ft. 9 in. It is orientated, though its position
relative to the north is between the magnetic north and
true geographical.

Internally, the church is commodious and comfortable,
and is of the usual presbyterian oblong construction. There
is no difficulty in being easily heard in all parts of it, even
when articulation and delivery are defective and feeble. The
roof is ceiled like an ordinary dwelling-house, and is pierced
by two circular ventilators. Perhaps the inside view of the
church gives less satisfaction to the eye than does the outside.
The charm of perspective, and the dignity which is given
by elevation, are both destroyed by the surrounding galleries.
This is still more emphasized by the arrangement which has
placed the pulpit on the side wall. But we do not need to
remind ourselves that this is due not to a crude artistic taste
on the part of those who build churches, but purely to con-
siderations of expense. It saves land and material, and
workmen's wages. To perch the half of the congregation
above the other half, like poultry on spars in a henhouse,
utilises space of elevation, makes it possible to contract the
walls, which saves quarrying and hewing, and renders the
roof narrower to cover over, and so curtails the cost of wood
and plastering. Summer and other visitors, however, always
express surprise at finding all so neat and comfortable.

The ugly erection immediately above the pulpit, which
is called a " sounding board," is also a painful reminder that
a right intention may sometimes have the worst form of
expression.

The church is accommodated with a Haden stove for
heating purposes, but it cannot be said to warm the church.

THE ELDERS, BEADLES, CHURCH, ETC. 275

as the portion nearest the hot-air outlet becomes too hot
while the remoter seats remain in a Greenland temperature.
The stove was generously put in by the heritors in April
1869. We may add that the church is insured for ^^500.

The kirk bell, which has a very pleasant tone on Fjf,«
bears the inscription : " For Channonkirk, 1702." There
is an old saying quoted by Dr Raine,* and which the late
Dr Hardy, of Old Cambus, informed the writer he had
heard when a boy, which runs as follows : —

" Chinglekirk bell
Which rings now
And evermair shall."

The rope which works it hangs down outside the western
gable, in the old-fashioned way, and when high winds rage
out of the west it has a trick of slipping its holdfast and
walloping round the corners of the church, to the destruction
of window-glass. It would naturally be supposed that after
such expense once incurred, the rope would be let down
inside the church, where it would be secure from playing
pranks, and insure the beadle, also, some comfort in a wintry
morning in ringing the bell. We do things differently in
the country ; the rope is mended, fastened anew, put up in
the old place to wait till the next storm of wind visits it, and
then there begins the old wrestling with the holdfast, the old
breakloose, and the usual result. The beadle, on the
following Sunday, finds that his rope has flung itself in
disgust up over the crow-steps of the gable in such a way
as to need ladders and much manipulation to coax it to
return to its proper duties.

There is only one service in church, summer and winter,

*Surtees Society, 1838.

276 ': HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

at noon on Sundays. For several years services were also
held in the village schoolroom on Sunday evenings, but the
novelty grew common, and the attendances thinned away to
a handful. Summer services are yet held in the open air in
• the outlying parts of the parish, but these, also, are meagrely
attended. From all we have been able to note of the
character of the people, we should infer that their religious
instincts are not of the enthusiastic kind. Religion is quite
a Sunday affair, and does not seriously interfere with the
week day at all. There is a dumb sense of duty which seems
to send them forth on Sunday morning, and which seems to
draw its strength largely from hereditary sources and the
sheer force of custom. The church stands apart from their
feelings in most respects. Especially is this so among the
farming population. No amount of entreaty, or persuasion,
will move a man or woman of them to do anything for the
church or the Sunday School. But for the grateful assistance
which comes steadily from the village, in the matter of elders
and Sunday School teachers, the entire religious ministra-
tions of the parish would fall to be done alone by the
minister. Nothing has grieved the minister more than
this dead, dour, inert spirit of the agricultural population.
Apart from the Christianity of the matter, there is a lack of
manly virility, a want of animation and interest in the
ordinary things of life, that must sadden any one responsible
for their moral and spiritual well-being. Some say the
cause is found in their holding to "disestablishment" notions,
and of their being encouraged in these contrary ways by
those in the parish who exercise an authority over them.
We do not think so. There would be evidence of stir and
motion somewhere if such were the case. But the apathy is
too deep. The minister would easily feel such a spirit in

lM..

THE ELDERS, BEADLES, CHURCH, ETC. 277

their manner, for the country has no conventional ways with
it to cloak its resentments. On the contrary, the minister is
welcomed in every home with a kindliness and warmth
which bespeak true hearts and no hypocrisy. It appears to
arise from an inability to take any action upon conviction.
We find that people coming into the parish experience the
same surprise as ourselves in this respect. Others say the
reason is that all the farmers, being mostly dissenters, their
siervants, who are nearly to a man churchmen, hesitate to
seem prominent, in any way, in church or school, lest worse
things befall them. If so, we apologise for all the blame
which we have laid at their door. There is one way, at least,
in which this is true. Some of the men never get to church.
If asked why, the answer is, " The master has aye some-
thing to dae for us at kirk-time." Shepherds and orramen
complain most about this. Perhaps it were nearer the
truth to say that dull times have to do with such a state of
matters. The farmer, finding that he cannot keep sufficient
men to do all the work on the farm, must pinch in some way
to get it out of the others on Sundays. But there is no
denying that a great change has come over the religious
character of our peasantry. Here and there one may meet
with evidences of the old piety and earnestness, but it is
rare. Only once in this parish, we believe, we encountered
it. When we made our visitation to the house, the " bake-
board" was on the table, and the gudewife was up to the
elbows among flour dough. The gudeman was resting, and
his dogs were at full length under the table where baking
operations were proceeding. By-and-by, during the con-
versation, the table was cleared up, and, just as if it were a
matter of course, the big Bible was laid reverently on it by
the wife, with a " Noo, sir," as much as to say, " Lead the

278 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

worship," and family worship proceeded. It was a generous
experience, but we considered that it was necessary to go
back a hundred years, at least, for the tap-root of it. So far
as we can ascertain, family worship is very rare in the parish.
The kirk is killed at the cradle. We confess to the belief
that all backsliding in church and public life is directly due
to the decay of religion at the fireside. The Church is partly
to blame for this. The peasant has been encouraged to
believe that if he send his child to a Sunday School, his
duty in its religious training is at an end. Ministers loudly
proclaim the need of, and torture their wits to create,
sufficient " bridges " between the Sunday School, the Bible
Class, and the young Communicants' Class. We think the
Creator has made some, and that the " bridges " should
always be found in the home ; but by the direct creation, on
the part of the pulpit, of a false view of parental responsi-
bility, fathers and mothers have let the "bridges" go with
the stream, and the parent's part is not found anywhere in
our ecclesiastical " plans " for saving the souls of the young.
Then, when a parish obtains a character for blasphemy,
drunkenness, or fornication, and church attendance is low,
the blame is laid upon the minister ! The root of the evil
will be found growing up at the fireside, manured by the
buried corpse of family worship. No father now desires the
sacred associations of the Church for his family when there
are births, marriages, or burials in it. The Church has no
existence in the honours and solemnities of our peasant life.
It must be said, with some reflections, that where the newly
converted savage in the wilds of Africa has the services of
the missionary, he stands exactly on the same level of
ecclesiastical advantage as we do here on the Lammermuirs
of Scotland. No member's child has been baptised in

THE ELDERS, BEADLES, CHURCH, ETC. 279

Channelkirk Church ; no one has been married in it ; no
dead person has passed forth from its hallowed precincts
to the tomb, within the memory of man. Here is a
gap needing a bridge ! How different in other spheres.
The school is carried through life in the memories of the
boy ; the pride of his university is carried over land and
sea in the bosom of the student ; the House of Parliament
never fades out of the family traditions of those who have
sat there ; but the Church alone is cut off from the sacred-
nesses of our lives, and is only associated with " weary " days
and " disagreeable " services. Then, in view of all this, our
venerable Assemblies wring their hands over the lapsed
masses ! More glory to them, and much success to them
with their committees on " Religious Conditions of the
People," " Church Extension," and " Heavenly Unions."
That the " religious condition of the people " under such
circumstances should be other than pitiable, that " Church
extension " should be laggard, or " heavenly unions " im-
possible, we are not in the least surprised. Church life
in the heart of it everywhere rots. No one attaches much
value to its statements of principle ; no one seems to care
a straw for its discipline. In faith and form there is
deplorable deficiency. The machinery of motives is all
pivoted upon finance and statistics. Get money ! Get up
the numbers on the Kirk Roll ! Furious coercions are
directed to these purposes, and the " successful " minister is
he who shows them largest. Meanwhile, there is no form
of religion in the home ; there is no connection between the
sacrednesses of the family and the Church ; there is little or
no faith in the "Standards" ; scorn rather ; and the minister's
office is regarded more and more as a question of " bags,"
"ladles," or door "plates."

280

HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

But lest any one should imagine that Channelkirk is a
parish given over to iniquity, let us hasten to say that in all
outward semblance the people appear respectable, temperate,
industrious, and honest. Fornication seems to be the pre-
valent vice, but it is bad enough. They are pleasant people
to deal with, apart from the standard of piety. They are
very healthy people. They send their children to the schools,
week-day and Sunday ; the Communions are fairly well
attended ; and when weather is favourable, their attendance
at church, allowing for the natural disadvantages, is all that
could be desired. But, withal, the spiritual life is low, in
most cases extinct, and it is this phase of parish life that the
minister must regard as chief among all else ; for when this
is dead, the rest is dying.

The following is a list of members on the Communion
Roll for the years between 1892 and 1900.

Number of Members on the Roll, 31st Dec. 1892—142

1893—155

„ 1894— 171

1895-186

„ 1896—198

1897—197

' „ 1898 — 206,

„ 1899—217

The average attendance at Communion (which is held
twice a year) during the last eight years was 90, the lowest
being 77, the highest iii. The last figure was reached In
the November Communion of 1899, being the nearest
approach to the number 112, which was attained fourteen
years before.

Connected with the church there is a Sunday School,
which is held in the village schoolroom. It was first opened
as the Parish Church Sunday School on 17th November 1895.

THE ELDERS, BEADLES, CHURCH, ETC. 281

There were 38 scholars, and William Bell, elder, now gone
to his rest, was the only teacher besides the minister.
Since then the average number on the roll is 66. There are
at present three male and three female teachers.

A Bible Class was opened for the first time in the winter
1892-93. An average of 20 has attended since then. It
meets at 1 1 A.M. on Sundays in the church. A Zenana
work-party flourished for two seasons, but gradually lost
interest for the women of the congregation. The great
distances which have to be faced through snow and rain
prove fatal to all meetings of this kind. This also hinders
the attendance of the women of the parish at church ;
it prevents, likewise, a second service on Sundays ; and,
there being no lamps, all evening meetings are impossible.

Church Patrons. — The right to appoint a person to
officiate in spiritual things in a place set apart for that
purpose is one that has always been exercised, and often
fiercely contended for. To-day the people possess this
power. It was not always in the hands of the people. This
arrangement is modern and purely protestant, and was,
perhaps, granted more to allay unseemly procedure than to
justify an inherent principle. Of old it was deemed the sacred
prerogative of Heaven. " No man taketh this honour unto
himself but he that is called of God." The Master " calleth
unto Him whom he would." This prerogative He committed
to we know whom ; it was not to the crowd either in or out
of church. But the argument of force and finance have long
overridden the jurisdiction of the Highest, and it is even
now accepted as an axiom that money and majorities are
the supreme founts of power in church or palace. This
system may be convenient for a time, but it will end. It
never has had sanction from the teaching of the Master, and

282 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

when the Church condescends to put aside the authority of
her Reformers, her Fathers, her Pauls and Johns, to follow-
humbly that of Christ alone, the people and the patrons will
also lay down abashed an usurpation which their experi-
ence has fully declared to be an unholy one.

The patronage of Channelkirk Church is first seen in the
hands of Hugh de Morville of Lauderdale. But when he
took upon himself the monk's robes he also resigned to the
Abbot of Dryburgh the advowson of the church, which he
gifted to him and his brethren, and there it remained till the
Reformation. The Bishop of St Andrews in 1242, "in con-
sideration of the charity of the canons, and the debts they
had incurred in building their monastery, and other expenses,
gave them permission to enjoy the revenues of the churches
under their patronage, within his diocese, one of their number,
approved by him^ performing the office of a vicar in each
parish^ * The canons, therefore, would serve the cure of
Channelkirk under the approval of the Bishop of St Andrews
up till the year 1 560. The advowson then passed into the
hands of the King, who conferred it, along with others, upon
John, Earl of Mar, Lord Erskine and Garioch. The Act of
1606, c. 91, sets forth that the King "wills the foresaidis
personages and vicarages sail be provydit with qualefeit
godlie and learnit persones apt and hable to instruct the
parochineris thairof in the. knowin veritie," and that to Lord
Mar is to be given, " The advocatioun, donatioun and full
richt and titill of all and sindrie the forsaidis kirkis, parochinnes,
alsweill personages as vicarages of the samen."t There was no
qualified minister in Channelkirk till 161 1. The Act of 1592,
c. 116, provided that Presbyteries were bound and astricted

* Monastic Annals of Teviotdale, p. 311.
t Acts of the Scottish Padiament.

THE ELDERS, BEADLES, CHURCH, ETC. 283

to receive and admit whatsoever qualified minister was pre-
sented by His Majesty or laic patrons. King James VL and
L presented Francis Collace in 1615, and King Charles L
presented Henry Cockburn in 1625. Lord Cardross presents
Walter Keith in 1663. In March 1682, there is a sasine in
favour of James Peter and others of the advocation and
donation of the Parish and Parish Kirk of Ginglekirk.* As
William Arrot came in the following year, 1683, he must
have been presented by " Peter and others." But the Act of
1690, c. 23, put the patronage of churches into the power of
the heritors and elders, who elected the minister that fol-
lowed Mr Arrot. In 171 1, the Act which was then passed
(10 Anne, c. 12) wrenched this privilege from the heritors and
elders, and restored it once more to the laic patrons. Conse-
quently, James Peter, of Chapel, exercised the right to
present Rev. David Scott in 1752. As showing how the
right of patronage was sometimes bargained about, we have
on 26th May 1763 a sasine granted in favour of James
Pringle, Esq. of Rowland, who receives " All and Haill the
advocation, donation, and right of patronage of the Parish
Kirk of Channelkirk, alias Ginglekirk, lying within the said
Bailiary of Lauderdale : proceeding upon a heritable bond
granted by George Peter,f elder of Chappell, and Captain
James Peter, younger of Chappell, with consent therein
specified." J

From James Pringle the right of patronage went to Hugh,
Earl of Marchmont, who presented Rev. Thomas Murray in
1792. It continued in the hands of the Marchmonts till the

* Sasines.

t Mr George Peter seems to have had some pious repute, as we find
him chosen by the Burgh of Lauder to represent them in the General
Assemblies of 1747 and 1750. — Lauder Burgh Records. % Sasines.

284 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

patronage was vested in the congregation by the statute law
of 1874.

It may be permissible to mention here that the writer,
with consent of the heritors, erected in 1897 a mural brass,
having engraved on it an account of the name of the church,
the chief facts of its history, and the names of its ministers
as far as known. It is placed on the south wall.

The Churchyard.

" Oh come, come wi' me
To the auld kirkyaird,
Ye weel ken the path
Through the soft green swaird ;
Friends slumber there
Ye were wont to regard,
And their bodies lie low in the auld kirkyaird.

Weep not for them.
They weep no more ;
Sorrow not for them,
For their sorrows are o'er ;
Sweet is their sleep,
Though cold and hard,
. . Their pillows lie low in the auld kirkyaird."

Channelkirk Churchyard is in all likelihood co-eval with
the church which was originally raised to the honour and
memory of St Cuthbert. And although we have no early
historical reference to this, there are not lacking some
indications that it must have been a place of very early
sepulture. As the visitor to the sacred place passes round
the church to the west gable, a few rude stones present
themselves lying against the wall or "dyke," which divides
the manse grounds from the cemetery. These have a history
which is set forth in the newspaper cutting which follows : —
"Curious burial: On the fifth of this month (March 1897)^
while preparations were being made for an interment in

THE ELDERS, BEADLES, CHURCH, ETC. 285

Channelkirk Churchyard, a curious instance of primitive
burial was brought to Hght. Instead of a coffin, rude slabs
of stone had been employed to surround the corpse. Two
small pieces were found on the inner side of the larger
stones, supporting each side of the head, and evidently
intended to keep it in its normal position. No stone was
found either above or below, with the exception of two
or three small bits laid above the head. The earth im-
mediately surrounding the remains was of quite a different
kind from the natural soil. The grave was about six feet
deep. A very peculiar feature was the slanting way in
which the body had been laid. The head seemed to have
rested at least twenty inches above the level of the feet.
The lair was due east and west in the usual way, and this
would seem to point to Christian sepulture, but this mode
of burial, it appears, is usually considered to be prehistoric.
The mere semblance of a skull was visible, and sensibly
indicated a person of full-grown stature. It crumbled
away on exposure to the air. The tomb was found two
yards due south-west from that corner of the church. The
stones exhumed are of a rude unprepared description, and
bear the appearance of having been chosen simply because
they lay readiest to hand. They have been laid aside for
inspection by the curious. The churchyard, it is needless
to say, is a very old one, and may have had Romans as
well as Britons laid within its hallowed confines."

We may supplement this account by a few remarks.
The grave, though " about six feet deep," would not be more
than three originally, as the ground has been levelled up
considerably during church renovations and rebuildings.
Perhaps it could not have been more than two feet under-
ground primarily. The head was to all appearance that

286 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

of a man. Mr Wight, farmer, Carfrae, when his attention
was drawn to this case, was of opinion that a similar burial
had taken place there at one time, as on repairing the
road in front of his stables, a tomb-like hollow was exposed
about two feet below the surface, but only half the length
of a man of common size. It was, of course, customary
in ancient burials to double the corpse's legs in such a way
as to make the tomb much smaller than those of the
present. The Channelkirk one may have been similar,
but owing to the ground around it having been disturbed,
it was impossible to trace the likeness with any certainty.
There is no mention of the churchyard having been con-
secrated when Bishop de Bernham consecrated the church
in 1 24 1. The reason is obvious. The churches which were
rebuilt on the sites of the old ones required renewed con-
secration, but the churchyard would be consecrated from
the beginning once for all time.

There are few graves or gravestones in the churchyard
which call for special remark. No one of known celebrity
seems to have been buried in it. The memorial stones are
for most part of plain workmanship, and commonplace in
record. The entrance to it was at one time from the north-
west quarter, and it is in this neighbourhood that tomb-
stones of some degree of quaintness are to be found.
There are none that seem older than about the middle of
the seventeenth century. The graves, according to the
fashion of country " kirkyairds," are all raised in mounds
above the usual level, a circumstance which at first sight
gives a painful impression to the beholder, who may
perhaps be accustomed to the smooth green sward of
town cemeteries. The custom, of course, comes down from
remote times, when no tombstone was erected to any one,

THE ELDERS, BEADLES, CHURCH, ETC. 287

and the mound alone served to direct the steps of sorrowing
friends to where the dead lay.

Perhaps the greatest interest attaches to the stone
which commemorates the Somerville family. This stone
is oblong and raised on four stone pedestals, one foot in
height from the ground. It stands on the south side of
the church. The grave, however, is not underneath the
stone, but to the north of it a few feet, and the church wall
must be built over it. The proper place for the stone
would have been in the church wall if exact locality had
been aimed at ; and also because, owing to space, it would
have been an obstruction to people passing round the
church, it was placed just as far from the wall as permit
a footpath between them. The last of the descendants
of the Somervilles of Airhouse resented this arrangement,
but it was too late then to alter it, and so it remains.
Being convenient for the purpose, it is turned into the
" Kirkyaird Convention Stane," of which few churchyards
are quite devoid. That is to say, it is the place where
young and old seat themselves of a Sunday morning in
oblong conclave, back to back, " before bell-time," and
discuss the local topics of interest. The Wight tombstone,
in the extreme south-west corner, is the only other table-
stone in the churchyard. Both are of the same shape and
finish, being chamfered on one side, but the Wight stone
is laid with the chamfered side upmost, whereas the Somer-
ville stone is the reverse of this. In the latter, the space
available for inscription is, consequently, greater and con-
tinuous from top to bottom. Some smaller upright stones
in the west portion of the churchyard deserve attention
both from their age and the characteristic emblems and
figures sculptured on them. A large one at the south-west

288 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

corner of the west gable is notable in this respect. Many
new tombstones have been put up during this century, and
the practice is becoming more general.

The remoteness of the churchyard, its high moorland
surroundings, and its situation on the direct route to Edin-
burgh, made it a tempting lure for the " Resurrectionists "
at the beginning of this century. No corpse was secure
from their clutches, and several exciting chases took place.
The most notable is, perhaps, the following :—

The public road ascending from Lauderdale to Soutra
Hill is cut at various intervals by ravines, more or less
wide, made by rivulets of water rushing down to Headshaw
Water during spates, and at these points the road has small
tunnels or conduits underneath to pass the water through
in its headlong course down the slopes. The first of these
which the traveller meets on his way from the south is
called "The Bairnies' Conduit." Two children had been
buried in Channelkirk Churchyard, and the medical corbies
from Edinburgh prepared to descend upon the prey. All
had gone successfully with them, the bodies were lifted, the
trap or " deadcoach " had got away without notice from the
burial-place, but when this ravine was reached, some hitch
had occurred which placed it in jeopardy, and the bodies,
which had been put in a sack, were quickly concealed under
the road inside the conduit, to be lifted at a more convenient
season. The body-snatchers were evidently scared for some
reason or other. Mr Hogg, the farmer (buried January
1834), then of Channelkirk Farm — the old farm which
stood opposite the manse, and which is now obliterated —
had had occasion next day to be in the ravine in which
the ghastly deposit was concealed, and caught sight of the
sack obtruding from the conduit. He quickly discovered

THE ELDERS, BEADLES, CHURCH, ETC. 289

what it all meant, and raised the alarm throughout the
parish. The wrath and excitenient of the people knew
no bounds, and men with guns turned out to lay wait for
the return of the marauders. The bodies were put back
into the conduit, and a numerous watch set to catch the
corbies. By-and-by, in the gloaming, a trap drawn by one
horse passed down the road, and went on to Carfraemill Inn,
nearly two miles further down the dale. All was eager
expectancy on the part of the ambuscade, but whether the
two men who were in the trap had seen, as they passed,
signs at the ravine of danger, or had scented suspicion in
the looks of the people at the inn, who, of course, were fully
apprised of all that was going forward, it is uncertain. They
had deemed it safer, however, to leave the parish behind
them as quickly as possible, and rode furiously past the
conduit once more on their way to Edinburgh. Some aver
that but for the eagerness of those of the ambuscade who
showed themselves too soon, and whose guns went off
through excitement, and betrayed the plan, the trap would
have stopped at the conduit and lifted the bodies. The
" resurrectionists " got clear away at all events, and the bodies
of the poor children were once more committed to the
"auld kirkyaird."

After this occurrence a strong iron coffin-cage was made,
into which the newly-buried were placed, coffin and all, and
the whole entombed until the body was beyond all uses of
the " medicals," after which it was again raised, the coffin
taken out of its iron encasement, and buried finally by
itself, the "cage" being reserved for the next interment.
This " cage " is still preserved, and lies on the north side
of the church against the boundary wall, and may be seen
by the curious at any time.

290

HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

Many cases of body-snatching are spoken of, but the
above seems to have impressed itself most upon the
memories of the inhabitants. The " big woman at the
Dass " was the last case of lifting. She was buried on a
Saturday, and when the worshippers came to church next
day, an open grave and scattered earth were all that re-
mained to tell where she had been laid.

CHAPTER XI

THE STIPEND

Its "Bad Eminence" in Church Histories — In Twelfth and Thirteenth
Centuries — Worth and Wealth of the Monks — Dryburgh Abbey and
the Titulars of Channelkirk — Stipend during the Years 1620-1900 —
Heritors and Agents — Cess Rolls.

It is a matter of some regret that discussions on stipend
have been so prominent in histories of the Church of Scotland.
This " bad eminence " has been given to them by necessity.
The humble penny, as much an " aid to devotion " as to
honesty, instead of being regulated in ecclesiastical affairs by
a sympathetic common sense, has been absurdly exalted to
the glittering pedestals of moral law. It has been held, for
example, that " Blessed be ye poor " means " Blessed is
poverty," and that a poor church is essential to the main-
tenance of a pure church. It is thus that a senseless ethic
has starved many a manse, just as in days bypast a criminal
text burned many a poor old woman as a witch. The sorrow
of it also continues in the fact that equally under national
law and the desires of the dissenting people, the starvation
still proceeds. Perhaps the reason is to be found in the
acquired instincts of Scottish theology, which has construed
the path of the minister to be more consonant to that of holi-
ness when shadowed with misery and stained with blood. The
" old clo' " of the Jews still cling to us in this as in much else.

292 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

It is between the years 1165-89 that we have the first
historical reference to the maintenance of Channelkirk priest.
Richard de Morville then concedes and confirms to the
brethren of Dryburgh Abbey " the gifts of my father (Hugh
de Morville) which, with himself, he gave to them, viz., the
Church of Childenchirch with all those pertinents with which
Godfrey the priest held it on the day in which my father
assumed the canonical dress."*

Although the " pertinents " are not specified, it is not
difficult to infer from other sources that the endowment of
the church was in land, together with the tenths of the
produce of certain land-districts. The Church of North-
umbria and the Lothians was an offshoot from the Columban
Church in both' its cHaracteristics of spiritual jurisdiction and
monastic practices, and assurning, as we may safely do, that
.Channelkirk Church was Columban before it was Roman
Catholic, the condition' of life of its ministers before Godfrey's
day is riot wholly unknown to us. Bede has shown us that
many Irishmen (Scots) came daily into Britain, preaching
the word of faith with great devotion to those provinces of
the Angles over which King Oswald reigned. " Churches
were built in several places : the people joyfully ' flocked
together to hear the word : money and lands were given of
the King^s bounty to build monasteries. \

The example set by the King was generally followed by
his vassals, and wherever a church existed, the owners of
land endowed it, according to their zeal and faith, with
portions of the land ; and ordained that the tenths (following
the Jewish systerri) should be forthcoming from certain parts
farmed by their followers and henchmen.

* Liber de Driburgh, Charter No. 8.

^ Ecclesiastical History., Book III., chap. iii.

THE STIPEND 293

When, therefore, we read that King Malcolm (1153-65)
confirmed to Dryburgh Abbey the donations of Hugh and
Robert (Richard) de Morville, viz. : " Channelkirk Church,
with land adjacent to it, and everything justly pertaining to
it," we are not to suppose that the De Morvilles had
originally endowed Channelkirk Church, or built it, but that
they had given it as it stood, and as they found it on their
Lauderdale lands ; while the priest of it was also to be
preserved in the rights, privileges, and emoluments with
which he had held it prior to the time of their coming into
Lauderdale.

It is not possible, perhaps, at this distant date, to arrive
at any clear statement as to the exact value of the priest's
" living," though we may venture to do so approximately.
We have no doubt that it would be a " sufficient " living, for
in those days, and while the Church was Roman, the labourer
in God's vineyard was never grudged and denied, as he is
now, a comfortable and respectable maintenance.

To the modern starvationist, it must be galling to read
that about 1220 quite an embarrassment of riches befell
Channelkirk Church. The treasury must have been bursting
with wealth : pious people were so mistaken ! Land in
abundance, arable as well as meadow, was gifted to it by
a foolish person called Henry, son of Samson. He measures
it from Pilmuir to Wennesheued (Fens-head ?), and from
Wennesheued to Bradestrotherburn, and from there to the
Leader. He also flings all the pertinents after the land; so
reckless was he ! Channelkirk held an interest also in those
days in the lands of Threeburnford. She looked upon' ten
acres to the immediate east of the church as her own
patrimony, with the addition of much land " adjacent to " the
church, an endowment of which there is no definition given.

294

HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

but which we have reason to believe included all the lands of
Kirklandhill estate, now Kirktonhill. To all these we must
add eight acres in the Haugh opposite what is now Mount-
mill steading. But even in those degenerate times, the high
officers of the Church heard their days before them, and
caught a glimmering of that purifying policy which rejoices
at present the latter-day starvationist. The priest in
Channelkirk parish was not allowed to wallow in so much
wealth. The monks of Dryburgh first milked the cow,
and then permitted him to lick the outside of the milk-
pail. This, as it is yet believed, taught him self-denial, self-
sacrifice, and more and more to die daily unto sin and live
unto righteousness. But we are far from lamenting his case.
Even the outside of the pail was worth licking in those
days, and, as we shall see, was flaked with a greater
richness of cream than is to be found inside of it in modern
times.

We arrive at some glimmering conception of the value
of the stipend of Channelkirk priest in the thirteenth
century in the following way : —

(i.) He received ^lo annually for serving the cure at
Channelkirk, and also supplying Lauder.*

According to Adam Smith, ;^i in the twelfth century was
equal to ^3 in his time.f In proportional or exchangeable
value, this sum has been by some writers calculated much
higher. Therefore, the least stipend which the priest of
Channelkirk could have was of ;^30 value. This looks at
first sight a small enough amount to satisfy even our modern
starvationists. But in 1264 one could buy for ;^io, 20 chalders
of barley; and a chalder of oatmeal (14 bolls) cost exactly

* Liber de Driburgh^ passim.

t Wealth of Nations^ chap, i., p. 2?

London, Third Edition, 1784.

THE STIPEND 295

^i.* This being the case, his stipend was worth far more to
him in purchasing power than is the Channelkirk stipend at
the present day, which is equal to 14 chalders " half barley, half
oats." At that date he might have bought 10 chalders of
oatmeal : an amount which should have kept the porridge-
pot eloquent for some time. For it meant 140 bolls : surely
a royal girnel-full ! Yet it was the staple food.

But this was not all his " living." We must add to this
amount (2.) his Vicarage Teinds. These were by no means
the least part of the stipend. They were often superior to
the rectorial or great teinds, and were drawn from hay, stock
produce, lambs, calves, dairy and garden produce, and such
like. And there was yet a more lucrative source of revenue.
Professor Cosmo Innes says, "The large part of clerical
emoluments came from offerings at Easter and other feasts,
dues by marriage, baptisms, and, heaviest of all, funeral
dues." t

The stipend of Channelkirk, therefore, in the middle of
the thirteenth century, was derived from the following
sources : —

1. Channelkirk and Lauder, ^10.

2. Vicarage teinds, hay, dairy produce, garden do., stock do.

3. Feast-offerings, marriage fees, baptism do., death do.

The vicarage teinds and feast-offerings were in all

likelihood by far the wealthier reservoirs. But if we

reckon each of these only at the value of the stipend, which,

independently of Lauder, he would have had as the vicar

of Channelkirk, viz., 10 merks — for no vicar could have

less — and rating the merk at 13s. 4d., this sum would

mean ^6, 13s. 4d., or the value of nearly 14 chalders of

* See Tytler's History of Scotland^ vol. ii.
^ Leg. Ajitiq., Lect. iv., p. 161.

296 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

barley. Doubling this amount gives us 28 chalders, and
adding this to the former value of 20 chalders, we seem
justified in assuming that the total stipend in 1268 would
rise to something like 48 chalders of barley. The present
stipend, as we have stated, is of the value of 14 chalders,
half oats, half barley. Of course such preposterous affluence
had to be purged from the priestly office. To our starva-
tionist friends this condition of matters must appear to
have been full of potential carnalities. The clergy, then,
were indeed the almoners of the poor ; they were the only
historians, lawyers, and doctors ; they were the chief legis-
lators ; they were the best landlords ; they introduced
agriculture and the arts. As a matter of local interest, if we
are not mistaken, they were the founders of the Border wool
trade. But their influence was also national. When the
independence of Scotland was in jeopardy, it was they who
stood side by side with Wallace when our aristocracy left
him to his fate. They hid him ; they fed him ; they
prayed for him ; they sent his foes to hell for him. They
were zealous, earnest men ; eager for their country's welfare;
open-handed, wide-hearted, with a religious creed far closer
in touch with human sympathies than anything of that
kind produced in Scotland since. And we believe it is
astonishing to our starvationists that all these ameliorating
and civilising influences should not have been amply carried
forward and sustained on something equivalent to the
modern stipend of ;^2C)0 a year.

But however the facts of history may now be balanced,
and whether or not we may trace to the affluence of the
priests that immorality and debauchery which, for fifty
years or thereby before the Reformation, disgraced their
conduct, we may be allowed to believe that Channelkirk

THE STIPEND 297

priest, at least, continued to wallow in the grossness of his
48-chalder values until there came the ever-hallowed year
of 1560, and cleanness of teeth for the ministers. The
nobles were, of course, the chief starvationists of that time,
and it must be admitted that they carried but their sancti-
fying and purifying duties nobly and well. Our minister,
indeed, was so purified in their furnace of refining that he
etherealized away into space and became " a blessed ghost ! "
The gain was immense ; for the minister of Lauder, besides
officiating in his own church, also supplied Channelkirk and
Bassendean ; and thus, instead of three stipends, one fed
the three parishes with spiritual pemmican. Even for
him, a little tightening of the belt helped to meekness, and
when entire holiness was desired, the neck was stretched !

About 1567, Mr Ninian Borthuik gets his stipend from
Lauder and Channelkirk to the extent of ;^40, "with the
thryd of his prebendrye extending to xj lib, 2s. 2d. lob."
For these two charges, that is, he was paid ;^5i, 2s. 2|d.
Scots money.

The same " Maister Niniane Borthuik, minister," appears
to have also supplied " Bassenden " in the Merse, for
which he received £66, 13s. 4d. Scots, "with the kirkland
of Ersiltoun." * In 1576, the reader at Channelkirk received
",^16, with the Kirkland, to be pait thairof the thrid of the
vicarage, £^, lis, od."i* The reader's name is not given.
Scott's Fasti gives his name as John Gibsoun, From
£\6 to ;i^20, with or without Kirkland, was the usual
stipend of a reader about this time.

From 1560 till i6ii, fifty-one years, there was no minister
in Channelkirk, and a brief sketch of the circumstances

* Register of Ministers, Reiders^ etc.

t Buik of Assignations of the Minis teris and Readars Stipendis.

298 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

and of the men who directly influenced the condition of its
stipend then, and until this day, may be permitted to fill
up that space of time.

Dryburgh Abbey, with other religious houses, was an-
nexed to the Crown after the Reformation, and all the
churches under it went with it. A liferent reservation was
made, however, in favour of the commendator, David Erskine,
who entered that office 1556. This reservation included
the tithes, which kept Channelkirk emoluments in direct
connection with the Abbey. As " modest and honest and
shamefast " David was a prominent and influential political
partisan of the reform party of his day, he found it more
convenient to lease Channelkirk teinds, as did also the
commendators immediately preceding him.

Accordingly, about 1535, Cuthbert Cranstoune and Sir
Robert Formane pay in rental to Dryburgh Abbey for the
Kirk of Channelkirk £66, 13s. 4d. Scots (100 merks), and
they continue to do so till the year 1560. Cuthbert
Cranstoun vvas then resident in Thirlestane Mains, and
seems to have been a quiet, inoffensive man, although his
family were often wild and lawless in their behaviour. He
was "prolocutor for pannale in the case of slaughter of
Stevin Bromfield, laird of Grenelawdene, 1564." His son,
John Cranstoun, in 1560, committed crimes of treason and
leze majesty, but was pardoned in 1578 (Acts of Pari., iii., 109).
John's sons, Thomas and John, were also, with many others,
subject to a process of treason raised in 1592 in Parliament,
and their posterity was disinherited. But in 1604 His Majesty
restores to "his heines lovit Maister Thomas Cranstoun of
Morestoun," and John Cranstoun, his brother germane, their
" lyffes, landis, gudis," etc., and rehabilitates their posterity
in their said rights.

THE STIPEND

■299

Alexander Cranstoun, mentioned below, is served heir
to his father, Thomas Cranstoun of Morestoun, in Burn-
castle, in Lauder, September 4, 1607. The same year he also
holds Ernescleuch and Egrop, and in 1609 gets Birkensyde,
as heir to Cuthbert Cranstoun.*

Sir Robert Formane was doubtless a relative of Arch-
bishop Andrew Forman, Superior of Dryburgh, during the
reigns of James IV. and James V. About 15 12 he was
Commendator of Dryburgh Abbey, resigned in 1506, and
died in I522.-|- The Forman family was of Hatton, Berwick-
shire, and Sir John Forman, brother of Andrew, married
Helen Rutherford, one of the heiresses of Rutherford of
Rutherford in Teviotdale,

It appears that Cuthbert Cranstoun and Sir Robert
Forman divided Channelkirk teinds between them in the
lease. In subsequent leases, at least, the Cranstoun share
was always a half of the teinds, and probably no more was
ever held by that house.

When the Reformation came, great changes took place
in the payment of ministers, but as Channelkirk had no
minister till 161 1, it is a clear inference that nearly all its
emoluments went into the secular purse.

In 1604, John, Earl of Mar, received from King James
VI. a grant of Dryburgh Abbey, together with the Abbey
of Cambuskenneth and the Priory of Inchmahome. The
King afterwards erected Dryburgh into a temporal lordship
and peerage, and on loth June 16 10 the Earl of Mar was
created Lord Cardross. In 161 5 Lord Mar obtains another
charter, in which we find the stipend of Chingilkirk set
down at 300 libras (^300 Scots), or £2$ sterling. An
augmentation must have been given a few years afterwards,
* Retours. t Walcot's History.

3G0 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

as we learn from what follows. In 1620 the King "concedes
to Alexander Cranston of Morrestoun " (noticed above) " and
to his heirs masculine and assigns whomsoever the lands
of Burncastle, with holdings, etc., half the great tenths
(garbales), the tenths of wool and lambs, rectorial and
vicarage, of the Church and Parish of Chingilkirk (possessed
by the said Alexander) in the bailiary of Lauderdale and
sheriffdom of Berwick, which lands the same Alexander,
and which tenths (sometime part of the lordship of Cardross)
John, Earl of Marr, with consent of Henry Erskine, his
second son . . . resigned ; and which tenths the King dis-
solved from the said lordship and united to the said lands
inseparably — being held in blench firm : Returning for the
lands two pounds of pepper ; for the tenths, 40 shillings,
as part of the blench firm due from the said lordship ;
and relieving the said Earl of half the minister's stipend
at the Church of Chingilkirk, extending to 250 merks, and
from other burdens," etc. . . *

The full stipend in 1620 must, therefore, have been 500
merks. This was the minimum stipend which a minister
might receive by the Act of Parliament of 1617, the
maximum being 800 merks. Channelkirk stipend was thus,
in curling phrase, " ower the hog," but no more. The " hog
score" of the present time is ^200; and, indeed, a con-
siderable amount of laborious " soopin," in bazaars and
other pursey places is necessary to effect this merciful result.
Principal John Cunningham notes that in 161 7, 500 merks
was equal to 5 chalders of victual.-f- MacGeorge says : " At
a period long after this (1595) the stipend of the first charge
in Glasgow was 500 merks, equal, at that time, to only

■'^ Great Seal.

t History of Church of Scotland, vol. i., p. 502. Second Edition.

THE STIPEND

301

£27, 15s. 6d."* The first charge of Glasgow and Chanhel-
kirk were thus, as far as stipend is concerned, on an equal
footing at one time !

The Kers of Morristoun subsequently succeeded the
Cranstouns in Channelkirk teinds.

Owing to the miserable condition into which the stipends
of the ministers had fallen up till 1627, the King, on the 7th
January of that year, issued a Commission to take the matter
in hand, and have it settled once and for ever. Sub-Com-
missions were established all over the country to value the
teinds and otherwise assist the High Commission, and
between 1627 and 1633, when Parliament sanctioned these
proceedings and made them law, good solid work was done,
which was intended for peace. The fifth part of the rental
of the land was declared to be the value of the teind, and so
much of this was apportioned to the minister as the Com-
missioners of teinds thought sufficient.

The High Commission was composed of prelates, nobles,
barons, and burgesses, and the Sub-Commissions of the leading
men in their districts. The Sub-Commission to the Presbytery,
for Lauder district, and which adjudicated in Lauder Tolbooth
on Channelkirk teinds and stipend, comprised, for example,
such names as Raulf Ker, who was Moderator, Robert Lauder
of that Ilk, William Pringall of Cortelferrie, William Crans-
toun in Morristoun, Robert Pringle, and Hugh Bell, with
Gilbert Murray, officer, and Charles Singileir (Sinclair)
Dempster. The Sub-Commissioners, who were bound to
know the district best, were inclined to rate the stipend
lower than the High Commission, who seemed to view the
case not so much as what would actually " keep the minister,"
as what was due to his profession and social position. That
* The Church of Scotland^ vol. iv., p. 55.

302

HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

both were as scrimp as decency could permit proves that not
the nobles alone were infected with the poverty-purity
principle, but that the country lairds also were convinced
of the salutary influence of poor stipends upon the morals
of the Church.

In 1627 the various " rowmes " in the parish (with their
names modernized), paid as under : —

Teinds.

Stock.

Parsonage.

Vicarage.

I. Bowerhouses .

300 merks

100 merks

ii40

2. CoUielaw ....

500 merks

TOO merks

80 merks

3. Over Howden .

600 merks

£100

TOO merks

4. Airhouse ....

160 merks

£^0

^20

5. Threeburnford .

i ^160

£20

6. Nether Hartside

! 600 merks

80 merks

100 merks

7. Glints . . . .

500 merks

£20

icx) merks

8, Over Hartside .

300 merks

20 merks

40 merks

9. Glengelt ....

' 1000 merks

^120

100 merks

10. Headshaw and Haugh .

400 merks

100 merks

.2^40

II. Midlie . . . .

100 merks

20 merks

/20

12. Fairnielies

. 200 merks

i:2o

40 merks

13. Kelphope . . . .

1 300 merks

£20

.£40

14. Friarsknowes .

' £^0

£(>

10 merks

15. Hazeldean . .

200 merks

20 merks

40 merks

16. Herniecleuch .

£^60

^10

20 merks

17. Hillhouse

400 merks

50 merks

18. Carfrae Mains .

■ 500 merks

£^00

^80

19. Carfrae Mill

300 merks

40 merks

20 merks

20. Nether Howden

1 600 merks

i^ioo

£20

21. Wiselaw Mill .

, 100 merks

10 merks

£4

22, Oxton ....

900 merks

.£100

i^4o

23. Heriotshall

£^0

50 merks

10 merks

24. Kirktonhill

200 merks

80 merks

50 merks

25. Kirkland of Kirkhaugh .
Totals

' i:4o

/8160 merks
I plus ^520

670 merks

760 merks

plus ^636

plus ;^324

THE STIPEND 303

Taking the Scots merk equal to is. i|d. sterling, and the
Scots pound equal to is. 8d., the stock of the whole parish
amounted to £\^2, 13s. 4d. sterling.

The parsonage teind equalled a total of ;^90, 4s. SxV^*
sterling.

The vicarage teind amounted to ;^69, 4s. S/jd. sterling.

The whole teind, parsonage and vicarage, of the parish,
therefore, in 1627 amounted to ;^I59, 8s. iOx\d, sterling,
according to the Rev. Henry Cockburn's statement. Of
course, if he had pocketed the full teinds, as was his right,
he would have been rolling in wealth, but his annual share
was 500 merks, or £2^, 15s. 6d., and this sum deducted from.
;^I59, 8s. lod., leaves ;^i3i, 13s. 4d., which went annually into
the purses of the Titulars. The last-mentioned sum was, of
course, the unexhausted or free teind, from which subsequent
augmentations were drawn or extorted.

The outcome of the valuations made by the High Com-
mission about 1630-32 seem to have raised Channelkirk
stipend .somewhat, and also fixed a rule of conversion. It
is set forth in these words : " At Halirud house the 25 March
1632 years. . . . Att which tyme, the valuation being
perfectly closed and the kirk provided sufficiently, the saids
Commissioners in presens of the sds parties compearand
decerned the pryces of buying and selling of the parsonage
teinds victuall within the said paroch (Ginglekirk) as follows,
vizt., Price of ilk boll of bear, 5 lib. 6s. 8d. (;^5, 6s. 8d.), pryce
of ilk boll of oats, 3 lib. money." *

In 1 69 1 an augmentation was obtained, and we ascertain

from the copy of both old and new stipend of that date,

preserved by Rev. David Scott in his Minute-Book, of date

175 1, that the old stipend, previous to 1 691, was ;^5i4, us. 6d.

* Decreet of Locality, p. 139.

304 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

Scots, or say ;^42, 17s. 6d. sterling. The minister had, as we
have seen, ;^27, 15s. 6d. in 1627. About 1630-32 he seems to
have received an augmentation equal to ;^I5 sterling, or
thereby, raising the total stipend to thie above sum. An
augmentation was again given in 1691, to the extent of
;^93, 19s. Scots, or nearly £y, i6s. 8d. sterling. This, added
to the sum already stated, reached ;^6o8, los. 6d. Scots, or
about ;^50, 14s. sterling. To this money payment it appears
there was added 2 stones of cheese, 6 bolls of bear, and 10
bolls of oats.*

The Rev. David Scott began his ministry in Channelkirk
in 1752, and he notes that his first year's stipend, in-
dependent of the above victual stipend, amounted only to
;^543, IS. lod. Scots, instead of ;^6o8, los. 6d. The defect
is alleged to have been due to non-payment by the Titular,
Ker of Morieston,t of 100 merks {£66, 13s. 4d.), of which
emolument Mr Scott either seems to have been ignorant
and never claimed, or that his predecessor and he conjointly
had never claimed, until forty years had passed, and it was
lost by dereliction. In his days began the long wars of
heritors against ministers, and heritors against heritors,
over the poor skinny gorb of Channelkirk stipend, the dust
and din of which did not die away till almost our own time.
Such despicable and unseemly efforts on the part of our
Scottish nobility and landowners over the meagre pittance
which was allotted to men who have never been otherwise
than useful and helpful to their country, have necessarily
planted a deep and heartfelt resentment against them in
thife bosom of the people, who naturally sympathise with
the weaker side, and never fail to respect their ministers.
_ It would be more than a wearisome task to narrate
* Decreet of Locality, p. 234. f Ibid., p. 236.

•f

THE STIPEND 305

the long scandalous story of lawsuits, decernings, recallings,
and processes without number, which embittered the lives
of three ministers of Channelkirk successively. Necessity
was laid upon the incumbents to procure the means of
existence, owing to the continued rise of the social standards
of living. The middle of last century saw great changes in
Scotland, changes which began much earlier and were
chiefly due to the rise of the industrial .spirit as compared
with the theological spirit of the two preceding centuries.
The Union of 1707 acted upon Scotland as the lifting of the
sluice which levels the canal waters with those of the sea,
and the disused, misused, and pent-up energies of the
Scottish people rushed into new and ever-broadening
channels of trading and manufacturing speculations. With
England, with America, and the West Indies, Scotland
for the first time could conduct something like business.
Glasgow and all the towns of the West began to grow.*
With such immense advances the manners and customs
of all Scottish life underwent a complete transformation.
Land cultivation, housing, dressing, feeding, everything ro.se
to higher levels. The morning of social happiness dawned
upon the people. But while all this was taking place, and
rents rose, and prices of markets grew higher, and land-
owners saw their exchequers filling, and an eager class of
husbandmen carving new farms for them out of moors and
wastes, making two farms where there was but one, the
minister's .stipend remained unchanged, and he had to
contend with a higher and* dearer style of living with the
old dole of money. He had no less nominally — his .stipend
as fixed was the same — but actually he was daily a poorer
man, owing to his having to pay more for the neces.saries

* See Buckle's History of Civilisation^ vol. iii., p. 179.

306 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

and services of life. The rise of the national tide of
prosperity rose above the rock he stood upon, and the logic
of events clearly meant that unless the rock could also be
heightened, he as minister must be swept into bankruptcy.
David Scott saw this too plainly, but he bore it, and might
have gone on to the end of his days in that way, if the
effort to push him off his rock by the landowners had not
fairly braced him to face the precincts of a law court in order
to protect himself

George Adinston came into Collielaw estate in 1757,
hailing from Carcant in Heriot parish. He narrowly in-
spected his teinds, and discovered that a few shillings more
were paid out of his land than seemed right. He took the
minister, and the titular, and the patron of Channelkirk
to law. He gained his case, and the few shillings were
struck off the minister's dole. This cost him dear, for the
minister in 1778 raised a process of augmentation, and Mr
Adinston found his case upset, and a bitter fight in the
Court of Session before him to prove even his heritable
right to his teinds. In 1779 Mr Scott "obtained a con-
siderable augmentation, though in consequence of the
different disputes amongst the heritors, the Locality was
not adjusted until the 21st January 1789," that is, ten years
afterwards.

It is perhaps necessary to explain that " Locality " here
is a technical term meaning the allocation to each property
in the parish of that exact proportion of stipend which is
due from it to the minister. As property changes hands
and is increased or diminished in area, confusion often arises
as to the exact sum due from each landowner, and this
appears to have been the cause of the misunderstanding
in Collielaw case. It was, however, only typical of many

THE STIPEND 307

other "cases" in the parish, all of which were disputed in
the Court of Teinds. The confusion is well illustrated by
the fact that the Teind Court changed its mind several times
on ColHelaw dispute, and Mr Adinston was never sure
whether his case was finally settled or not! In 1779 he
was rated at £2^, 9s. 3d. Scots, plus 3 pecks, 3 lippies of
bear, 3 pecks of oats, and ;i^i, is. 5d. additional money.
But a Rectified Locality, made up on 6th February 1788,
made his share £2^, 9s. 3d., plus i boll, i peck of bear, 3
firlots, 2 pecks, i lippie of oats, and £^, i8s. 8d. additional.
Never was there a better instance that " too many cooks
spoil the broth." As already noted, when the King in 1627
appointed a High Commission to look into the whole
question of teinds, a Sub-Commission was also created.
This Sub-Commission acted independently of the High
Commission, and valued the teinds of a parish according to
its own judgment, and the High Commission in many cases
refused to accept its valuations. In ColHelaw case, the
Sub-Commission valued the teinds at one amount, and the
High Commission the year following valued them at another.
Mr Adinston held by the Sub-Commission's valuation, and
this was taken as a basis of settlement until the record of
that of the High Commission was discovered. Then the
Teind Court reversed its judgment, and decerned that the
valuation of the Sub-Commission was null and void and
wastepaper by the subsequent valuation of the High Com-
mission, and although petition upon petition was brought
before the Lords long after Collielaw had passed from Mr
Adinston's hands (for the case was disputed from 1773 till
1820, more than fifty years), the final decree of the Teind
Court, of dates 8th December 18 19 and 8th March 1820,
put the matter at rest on the valuation of the High Com-

308 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

mission of 2nd July 163 1. This valuation was higher than
that of the Sub-Commission. It was set down at 4 bolls
of bear, 8 bolls of oats, and 12 lambs with wool, and at
the last adjustment of the stipend in 1827 this amount is
set down against Collielaw estate.

As remarked, the Collielaw dispute is typical of many
others which transpired during the incumbencies of David
Scott, Thomas Murray, and John Brown. The heritors
fought with each other and with the ministers, and well may
the ministers who have followed them in the office feel
grateful to their brethren for their valiant contest with these
starvationists, for had they not endured the miseries of
law courts, and done battle for the bare necessaries of life,
the heritors to all appearance would have calmly seen the
Church of Channelkirk rot into the soil, and its ministers
along with it. Bowels of mercy in these grievous lawsuits
are nowhere evident except in the law courts where one
looks least to find them. Perhaps the Bench was more
concerned to realise a common-sense estimate of what
was due to the worldly position of a Christian gentleman,
than to perpetuate a lean line of holy officials by the
sanctified methods of diminished aliment.

The same reason that urged pious David Scott to
entrench himself on his bit of rock, and, if possible, build
a kind of Stylites pillar on it to keep his head somewhat
above starvation level, induced his successor, Mr Murray,
to adopt the same policy. Lord Lauderdale had brought
a process of reduction of Locality in 1789, and was success-
ful in getting some of his allocated portion of stipend shifted
on to the shoulders of some one else— Mr Borthwick we learn
— and as a consequence a new scheme of Locality of Stipend
was made out in 1793. In this year Mr Murray entered

THE STIPEND

309

upon his ministry here, and thinking his feet too near the
starvation water, he raised a new process of Augmentation
and Locality, and on 20th May 1795 obtained his request
to the extent of three chalders of victual, half meal, half
bear, and ^32, 6s. 8d. Scots.* But various heritors hauled
him through the Teind Court again and again, and when
1808 came he was called to the highest Court of all, and left
his Stylites pillar to be added to by his successor, Mr John
Brown. All his days at Channelkirk manse must have
been embittered with squabbles about his stipend. Burns
laments the sad fate of him who " begs a brother of the
earth to give him leave to toil ; " but surely his lot is harder
who, having begged long for leave to toil, is further refused
a competent wage for the labour he performs.

In April 181 1 the Rev. John Brown took up the common
cause which Rev. Thomas Murray had let fall in death.
These lawsuits were much complicated by (i) the two
separate valuations of the Sub-Commission and High Com-
mission of 1627-31, use and wont having settled upon the
one in'^one set of properties, and upon the other in the
other set, and thus overpayments and underpayments of
stipend were alleged ; and (2) by combinations or separations
of properties since the time of such valuations. The latter
set of circumstances, for example, produced confusion in the
allocation of the teinds of Collielaw and Bowerhouse, Kirkton-
hill and Over Hartside, Glengelt and Mountmill, Ugston
as two halves belong to separate owners, and Ugston as
connected with Heriotshall. The teinds of Channelkirk
parish are frankly confessed by those who had to deal with
them in the law processes of this and last centuries as about
as puzzling a question of teinds as could well be imagined.
* Locality, pp. 4 and 37,

310 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

It constituted a veritable sword dance, where laceration
rewarded the performer's lack of skill and agility. The
bowels of mercy on the Bench were often, happily, a place
of refuge for the poor incumbent. Mr Brown, however, was
a heaven-born warrior, and while watching heritor combat
with heritor, was not slow to carry his cause boldly against
their united forces. In 1811 he brought a new process,
the fifth of such since 1773, of Augmentation and Locality.
But a feature of the case presented itself which Mr Murray
had to face, and died trying to remedy. There were no
funds for a further increase of stipend ! The bounty and
blessing of the Stuart Kings, and of the Erskines, and the
Cranstons, and the Commissioners, had fairly dried up ! The
pillar of safety could no further be raised ! So, the first step
in the new process of augmentation was to sist that process
till the issue of a process of reduction could be effected,
begun by Murray, and now to be carried on at Mr Brown's
instance. This was accomplished on 17th January 1812.
The reduction was favourable to the minister, and then,
in 1 8 14, he resumed proceedings in the augmentation. Mr
Murray's augmentation began with the last half of the crop
and year of God 1793, and now Mr Brown's drew back to
the crop and year of God 181 1. This Interlocutor of
Augmentation was pronounced on 6th July 1814. Mr
Brown's stipend was to be henceforth, "yearly, since syne
and in time coming, fourteen chalders of victual, half meal,
half barley, payable in money, according to the highest
fiars prices of the county annually, with ten pounds sterling
for furnishing the Communion elements." This judgment
was petitioned against by heritors, and protests made, but it
ultimately became the final judgment of the Court, and a
final Locality was made out apportioning the amount

THE STIPEND 311

among the heritors, and it remains the stipend to this
day.

We are now able to glance backwards and get a clearer
view of the course of this Pactolus' stream of stipend, as it
winds and widens in its golden affluence from the year 1567.

Circa 1567. Ninian Borthuik serves Lauder and Channelkirk. Stipend

= ;^5i, 28. 2id = ;^4, 5s. 3d. stg. approx., plus his Bassen-

dean stipend.
1615. Francis Collage (1615-1625) (Channelkirk only). Stipend,

^300 Scots = j^25 sterling.
1620. Francis Collage. Stipend = 5oo merks = ;^27, 15s. 6d. stg.
1627. Henry Cogkburn (1625-50). Stipend = 500 merks =

;^27, 15s. 6d. stg. Augmentation of ^15 stg. or thereby,

probably about 1632. Stipend = ^42, 17s. 6d.
1632-1691. (Henry Cogkburn : David Liddell : Walter Keith :

Wm. Arrot). Stipend = ^514, us. 6d. Scots =

^42, 17s. 6d. stg.
1691. William Arrot (received into Presbyterianism from
Prelacy). Augmentation of ^93, 19s. Scots = ^7, i6s.

stg. Victual was also added.

|';^6o8, IDS. 6d. Scots — ^^50, 14s. stg. approx.,

T,, . J ,. 2 stones of cheese,

The stipend then ={,,,, , ,

^ ' 6 bolls of bear,

1 10

bolls of oats.

The victual stipend was drawn from Nether Howden,
Justicehall, Ogstoun, Mountmill, Kirktonhill, Hartside and
Glengelt, " att the rate of 9 half fulls per boll, and all of infield
corn." One stone of cheese came from Glengelt, and one from
Headshaw.

Lammermoor bear, per boll, in 1691 =8s.

„ oats, „ „ =5s. I id.*

Therefore, leaving out cheese, the total stipend was
;^6i3, 17s. 8d. Scots.

* Robert Ker's Report of the Agriculture of Berwickshire in 18 13.

312

HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

In 1699 the stipends of some of the parishes in and
around Lauderdale stood as under : —

Westruther ..... 1000 merks.
Earlston ..... 1440 ,,

Gordon ..... iioo „

Legerwood ..... 850 ,,

Smailholm ..... 800 ,,

Nenthorn ..... 973 ,,

Lauder . . 5 chalders of victual and 400 ,,

1752. Through loss of 100 merks by dereliction and other causes,
the stipend of Channelkirk, in 1752, was, in money Scots,
only ^543, is. iod. = ^45, 5s. iH- stg.
1779. Rev. David Scott (1752-1792) obtained an augmentation in
1779 of approximately ^14, is. 9d. stg. We get this
result by deducting the augmentation obtained later by
Mr Murray from the old stipend he held from Mr Scott.
Stipend, therefore, in 1779 = .^59) 6s. ii|d. stg.
1793. Rev. Thomas Murray (1793- 1808) had his stipend aug-
mented in the year of his ordination to the sum of
^65, 4s. lod. stg. It consisted of : —

„ , or, 6 chalders victual, counting 16 bolls

48 „ bear h • . , ,

" I m I chalder.

24 „ oats j

(2) ^600 Scots = ;^5o stg. ; and (3) ;{;6o Scots = ^5 stg.
for Communion elements. The total was — 6 chalders
victual plus ^55 stg.
In 1795, meal was £1 Scots per boll (average taken of 10 years).
„ bear (Lammermoor) was ;i^i, 9s. 4d. Scots per boll.
„ oats „ „ ^i, 3s. 4d. „ „ *

The actual price paid was probably much less, but on this
basis Mr Murray's entire stipend now stood at £6s, 4s. lod. ;
with the glebe value he might realise .^80, or thereby. It
will be observed that the augmentations are, for the most
part, from victual.

1 8 14. Rev. John Brown (1809- 1828) obtained, in 18 14, an aug-
mentation of 49 bolls, 2 pecks of meal, and 53 bolls, i
peck, 3 lippies Of barley.

His augmentation was to date from the crop and year of
God 181 1, when he raised the summons, and the whole
* Ker's Report, 181 3.

THE STIPEND 313

stipend was declared to be 14 chalders of victual, half meal,
half barley, payable in money, according to the highest fiars
prices of the county annually, with ^10 sterling for furnishing
the Communion elements. This was made into an interim
Locality, and after petitions, protests, and new lawsuits on
particular disputed teinds, the rectified Locality was finally
made up on 20th February 1827. From 1776 "no final
Locality had been in the parish." "Various interim schemes"
had to do duty, and the minister dying in 1828, he may be
said, like his two immediate predecessors, to have spent
nearly all his years of ministry in Channelkirk bickering
about his stipend.

If the stipend were calculated on the Merse fiars prices
instead of the Lammermoor, as we have done, it would
amount to a few pounds more, as the Merse prices were
invariably higher than the Lammermoor. But there is
reason to believe that the option of the Merse fiars prices
was not made legal to Channelkirk minister till 6th July
1 8 14.* On that date the Court of Session "decerned and
ordained " the stipend to be paid " according to the highest
fiars prices of the county." The Rev. John Brown under-
stood this to include the Merse prices in its scope, but Lord
Tweeddale, Lord Lauderdale, Mr Borthwick, and Mr Somer-
ville, petitioned against his view, and urged that to take
Merse prices, which at that time were higher than Lammer-
moor by seven and eight shillings, was unjust, and " contrary
to the practice of all the parishes in Lauderdale? ^ We are
happy to say that the bowels of mercy on the Bench once
more sustained the minister's reading of the law.

We now give a Table of Stipend of the year 1862, showing
how the 14 chalders work out : —

* Locality^ p. 28. t Ibid.^ p. 49.

314

HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

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316

HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

The monthly Cess of Channelkirk (Scots money) 1750, A.D.
(From Rev. David Scott's note-book). The same total is
given in the Kirk Records as the monthly Cess in 1742: —

From the Titular Morriestoun

£^

Carfrae Barony teind .

Kelphope ....

Hedshawe ....

Nether Hartside

Glints .....

Kirklandhill and Overhartside

Mathie's h of Ogstoune

Somervail's ^ of Ogstoune

Threabumfoord

Overhouden and Airhouse

Netherhowden and Glengelt .

Heriotshall ....

Collilaw

Overbourhouse . . . .

Netherbourhouse

Total,

£75

THE STIPEND

317

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CHAPTER XII

SCHOOLS AND SCHOOLMASTERS

Education, Priests, Protestants, and Acts of Parliament — Knox's Dream
— First Glimpse of Channelkirk Schoolmaster — Nether Howden
School — Patrick Anderson — Hugh Wilson — Carfraemill School —
Andrew Vetch — John Lang — Cess for Schoolmaster's Salary —
Lancelot Whale — Robert Neill — Channelkirk School and its
Furnishings in 1760 — John M'Dougall — Removal of School to
Oxton — Nichol Dodds — Alexander Denholm — Alexander Davidson
— Henry Marshall Liddell.

As early as 1496 the barons of Scotland were instructed to
send their eldest sons to grammar schools at eight or nine
years of age, and to keep them there until they had " perfect
Latin." It is needless to say that the Roman Church
previous to the Reformation kept the education of the people
strictly in her own hands, just as her polity is the same
to-day, and the priest was the medium of secular as well as
of spiritual instruction. The Protestant Church was also as
fervent in sustaining this scheme as was the Church of Rome,
and has not relinquished it except under the strongest com-
pulsion of law.

In 1567, seven years after the Reformation, a law was
passed placing the schools of the country on a reformed
basis. Teachers, both public and private, had to be approved
by the superintendents of the Church. In 1633 an Act of
Privy Council enacted " that in every paroch of this kingdom

320 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

a school be established, and a fit person appointed to the same,
according to the choice of the bishop of the diocese," which
was carried out by Act of Parliament in the same year.
From which it is clear that Episcopalians were no less zealous
than the Presbyterians in the matter of education. The
latter came into power as a political force again, and so in
1646 another Act insures that a school be founded " in
every parish " by advice of Presbytery. The heritors, rsore-
over, are to provide a commodious house for the school, and
to modify a stipend to the schoolmaster, not less than 100
merks, but not more than 200, or ranging roughly between
^5, 6s. and ;^io, 12s. In the Act of 1658 it was enacted
that the schoolmaster must not be a papist ; in that of 1690,
schoolmasters were taken bound to sign the Confession of
Faith, to take the oath of allegiance to King William and
Queen Mary, to be pious and "of good and sufficient
literature," and to submit to the government of the kirk.
In the Act of 1693 schoolmasters were declared to be subject
to the Presbytery within whose bounds they were resident.
The Act of 1696 was important. It provided that a school
should be in every parish, and a salary for the teacher, as in
Act 1646, paid half-yearly, in addition to the casualties which
belonged to the readers and clerks of kirk-sessions. Tenants
were to relieve the heritors to the extent of half the expense
of settling and maintaining the school and the schoolmaster's
salary.

Again, in the Act of 1700, we find the religious element
emphasized, for papists are proclaimed incapable of acting
as schoolmasters. The frequency of the religious clause
shows how zealously the Kirk guarded the education of the
young, and especially their religious education in school.
The Act of 1803 provided that salary should not be under

SCHOOLS AND SCHOOLMASTERS 321

3CXD merks Scots per annum, nor above 400 merks. The
sum was to be fixed by the minister of the parish and the
heritors, and at the termination of every twenty-five years
the Sheriff had it in his power to determine the average
price of a chalder of oatmeal, with a view to increasing, if
it were necessary, the yearly allowance granted to the
schoolmaster.

The Act of 1 86 1 comes next in importance, perhaps.
The trend of the century is seen in the twelfth section, which
declares it unnecessary for any schoolmaster to subscribe
the Confession of Faith, or to profess that he will submit
himself to the government and discipline of the Church of
Scotland. His tenure of office is virtually admitted to be
ad vitam aut culpam.

A complete revolution arrived with the Act of 1872. The
parochial system, so long an honourable one in Scotland, and
which many yet regret, was abolished, and the system of School
Boards by popular election set up in its place. All powers
were vested in them ; and while the scholarship of the nation
has not risen higher, the exasperation and friction between
boards, teachers, parents, and ratepayers prove that neither
has the sum of human happiness been augmented by the
change.

We turn now to what concerns us more particularly in
the fortunes of education, and those responsible for the same
in our own parish, during the post-Reformation period.

It was long the proud boast of the parish schoolmaster
that his pupils, when they passed forth from the village
school, needed no " secondary " training in high schools or
"colleges" to enable them to take front places in the
universities. In the turbulent days of the Reformation,
Knox and his coadjutors gave education the same place of

322 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

importance which is almost universally assigned to religion
and the poor, God's kirk ; God's poor ; God's bairns : the
"ministers," the " puir," and the " schollis," are the prime
objects of Knox's dream of reform. The nation was sunk
in ignorance, poverty, and immorality. Sound knowledge,
sound health, and sound doctrine alone could save it. And
like Pharaoh and Herod, though for salvation and not
destruction, Knox began at the cradle. It must always
begin there to be a permanency. But Knox, like a true
educator, had no design of dividing the school from the
Church. The one prepared for the other, like apprentice-
.ship for journeymanhood. Like Guyau, he was convinced
that "the morality of the race, together with its health
and vigour, must be the prirtcipal object of education. All
else is secondary. Intellectual qualities, for example, and
especially knowledge, learning, and information, are much
less important to a race than its moral and physical vigour." *
" All must be compelled," Knox declared, " to bring up
their children in learnyng and virtue." " Off necessitie
thairfore we judge it, that everie severall churche have a
scholmaister appointed, suche a one as is able, at least, to
teache grammer and the Latine toung y{ the town be of
any reputatioun." " Yf it be Upaland," (in such places
as remote as Channelkirk, for instance) " whaire the people
convene to doctrine bot once in the weeke, then must
eathir the Reidar or the Minister thair appointed take care
over the children and youth of the parische, to instruct
them in thair first rudiments, and especiallie in the cate-
chisme," t that is, the Book of Common Order, the Shorter
Catechism not yet having seen the light in Knox's day.

* Education and Heredity, p. 96.

f Knox's Works {The Biike of Discipline), vol. ii., pp. 209, 211.

SCHOOLS AND SCHOOLMASTERS 323

As no minister existed in Channelkirk for many a year
after the Reformation, the double duties of " Reidar " in
church and teacher in school would be performed by 'the
same person.

The earliest notice of schoolmaster, therefore, which we
have in this parish, seems to be given under the year 1576,
if we accept Dr Hew Scott's authority. * He is not
mentioned, of course, under that designation, but as Reader,
and his name is John Gibsoun. Nothing more is known of
him, and we can only conjecture the career he fulfilled in
that capacity from our general knowledge of his period.
The church would naturally be the place of instruction as
well as worship, and the course of education based for the
chief part on religious lines. Readers had only £16 or
;^20 of stipend, with kirklands. The greed of the nobles
made sure that both teachers and taught should learn
first by the things which they suffered, a policy which
extended well into this present century.

Our next glimpse of a veritable schoolmaster, whose
occupation was apart from Church services, is in i654.'f-
Whether he was Channelkirk schoolmaster, however, is
problematical. "July 20, delivered to a lame schoolmaster
recommended by the Presbytery, los. 66." is the legend
of the kirk books. Teachers were often peripatetic, and
taught here and there without continued residence or fixed
salary, in common dwelling-houses, after working hours,
with bed and board from some kind householder as
remuneration. This " schoolmaster " may have been one of
this description, although we have merely conjecture to guide
us. We are on firmer ground when we reach 1657, three
years later. There is no mistake ; it is " the schoolmaster,"
* Fas/i Ecclesiana ScoHcance. f Kirk Records.

324 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

but his name is not given, though we do not quite despair,
for there is reason to believe it is given in 1662. The first
appearance of a system of instruction existing in Channel-
kirk parish is as follows : —

" 1657, Feby. 15. — Coll. 17s., qhilk was fully distribut to
James Alan's two soons to pay their quarterly stipend to
the schoolmaster."

" 1657, April 19. — Collected 13s. 6d. Distribut fully to
Will. Scott's child for paying the schoolmaster's quarterly
payment."

The poor schoolmaster gets what he can quarterly, and
its precarious nature is evident.

The same year, in June 22, " having depursed to the
schoolmaster four pounds."

1658. "Feb. 14. — The week-days' collections kept by
.... in Adam Somervell's hand did amount to three merks,
which the minister, with consent of the elders, ordered to
be given to the schoolmaster for 3 quarts, (payment). . . . Will.
Scott's daughter and Adam (Swinton's) 2 children." The
same year, in March 23, " 13s. given to the schoolmaster
for Will. Scott's child's quarterly payment."

The following defective sentence is interesting as
seeming to point to the original Oxton School.

" 1659. Adam Simmervell, boxkeeper, by warrant of the
Sessione, depursed five pounds to Will. Milkum (Malcolm ?)
in Nether hudoun (Nether Howden) for (hire of) a house . . .
for the schollers to learn in." This school in Nether
Howden seems to have existed at least till 1728. They
proceeded to build a new school shortly afterwards, pre-
sumably at Channelkirk village. On 25th November 1661,
" The elders met and unanimously decided to pay the
builder of the scole for that work." They seem to

SCHOOLS AND SCHOOLMASTERS 325

have had in view a schoolhouse also for the schoolmaster.
The whole cost appears to have reached ^^50, but "the
Sessione thinks fit, when occasion shall offer, to use means
that the heritors may refund the formentioned fiftie pounds
to the Sessione again." These were the days when Kirk-
Sessions believed in miracles.

1662, March 15. — "^5 given to the burser, and also.
40s. given to the schoolmaster, together with the 23rd day's
collection." It was Communion time, and the collections
of the 15th, i6th, and 17th, together with that of the 23rd,
appear to have been devoted to the Presbytery's bursar
at the university, and the schoolmaster of the parish. The
church, the university, and the school went thus hand in
hand — just as it should be.

The schoolmaster's name comes to light in 1662. After
notice of certain moneys given out of the Kirk-Session
treasury or " box," we have " the rest of the sum distribut
to Patrick Anderson, schoolmaster, James Black, Wm.
Somerville in Glengelt, and James Knight, Ugstone."

1664. "The second of October, counted with Patrick
Anderson, schoolmaster, that had the box and moneys
therein committed to him from the first of November
1663 to the 2nd of October 1664." Doubtless he was
Session-clerk, but was not an elder. " The box is put in the
custodie" of him once more, "and the key delivered to
Thomas Thomson in Hizeldean to be keepit by him."
The teacher had the box, and the former, not an elder,
kept the key ; the division of responsibility in this way
tending to the preservation of kirk property.

Mr Patrick Anderson, schoolmaster of Channelkirk,
vanishes out of the records "the second day of Julie" 1665,
holding the same honourable post of kirk treasurer. A

326 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

worthy man, doubtless. All that we know of him is
good.

The schoolmaster who follows Patrick Anderson seems
to have been Hugh Wilson. Eighteen years elapse after
1665 before he comes into the records, and even then
he remains a very shadowy figure. In 1683, November 15,
we have "given to schoolmaster ^5," and three entries
below, " More to Hugh Wilson in Ugston £2" as if a
reference were made to "the schoolmaster." Again, under
1684, " Given to Hugh Wilson, in Ugston, £2',' is
immediately followed by "More to the schoolmaster, £\r
There is, however, in an old fragment of a single leaf, lovingly
preserved among the records, two entries which appear to
set our minds at ease on the matter. Several notices
here and there are given of " poor scholars' payments
quarterly;" then under 1727, "Poor scholars at Hew Wilson's
school, ^5 " is given, which cannot, it seems to us, on
reasonable grounds, refer to any other person than the
" Hugh Wilson " of the former date, 1683. This implies
that he had been schoolmaster for forty-four years. Another
entry given in the same year of 1727 says: "To poor scholars
at Netherhowden School, £6^' which takes us back at once
to the year 1659, when the Kirk-Session gave Will. Milkum
in Netherhowden £^ " for a house for scholars to learn in."
Two distinct schools must have existed, therefore, in the parish
at this period, viz., Hugh Wilson's "in Ugston" or Channel-
kirk, the latter place most likely, and that at Nether Howden.

The Scottish Parliament, in 1696, passed a law imposing
upon heritors of every parish the duty of building a school
and maintaining it, and also providing a salary for the
schoolmaster. Needless to say, this law was frequently
evaded. The schoolmaster would have fared but sparely if

SCHOOLS AND SCHOOLMASTERS 327

he had had no other means of living than accrued to him
from his teaching. Kirk-Session contributions of a vary-
ing kind, surveying farmer's fields, putting wills together,
Session - clerk's remuneration, precentorships — these, and
similar perquisites enabled him to live decently. The
heritors seem to have shamefully traded upon his necessi-
ties wherever they could venture it, and cut down his
school salary, which alone they had any right to consider,
to fit into these perquisites. The law compelled them to
provide a- school and give a sufficient competence to a
schoolmaster in every parish, but that burden was for most
part shovelled into the laps of his perquisites, and what
should have been to him comfortable advantages over and
above his fixed salary, became sources of anxiety and worry,
for he was never certain when his perquisites might fall
away, and himself be left to the tender feeding of the
heritors' poorhouse dole. The Kirk - Session seems to
have looked primarily to the fact of education being carried
on in the parish, and contributed to a school or the schools
in it with equal hand, content if the good work were done.
The school, therefore, which seems to have begun at Nether
Howden about 1659, received its help from the church
equally with the parish school at the village of Channelkirk.
It is almost certain that as we find both schools existing in
1728, the Nether Howden School gradually became Oxton
School, and through varying fortunes and changing habita-
tions, continued so to be until the School of Channelkirk
merged into it, and it became the parish school in 1854.
This seems evident, for after 1728 there is no more
mention of "Nether Howden School," but from 1735 the
new designation " Oxtoun School" comes frequently into
view. There is also a natural reason why a school should

328 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

have existed near or in Oxton for so long a time, apart
from the parish school at Channelkirk village, for its
centrality of population and easier access would recom-
mend this course in the children's behalf. The same
reasons apply to " Carfraemill School," which would be more
convenient for the children of Carfrae, Hillhouse, and the
places to the south of it than either Lauder or Oxton schools.
" Carfrae Mill School " was a " Side-school or " subscription
school," and Gordon Stewart was its schoolmaster some
time before 1817.* He is then called " the late schoolmaster
in Carfraemill."

Hugh Wilson was succeeded by Andrew Vetch, but
at what particular date we are unable to affirm. He is
preserved from oblivion by a single reference in a sasine
dated 23rd February 1725, given in favour of the Rev.
Henry Home regarding his possession of Kelphope teinds.
Vetch comes into the sasine as witness. "These things
were done upon the grounds of the lands of Kelphope,
betwixt the hours of three and four afternoon, day, month,
year of God, and of His Majesty's reign as underwritten,
before and in presence of John Henrysone of Kirklandhill,
Andrew Vetch, schoolmaster in Channelkirk, George Hall,
tennant in Kelphope, and James Miller, indweller, these
witnesses." He is never anywhere again mentioned by
name as far as we have been able to discover. In the
kirk accounts from* May 1704 till 1741, there are items
such as, " To the schoolmaster," " To the schoolmaster and
beadle," but no name is given. The schoolmaster who
follows Andrew Vetch is John Lang. He passes his trials
before the Presbytery in 1742, and receives testimonials
of his sufficiency, and in the same year the heritors meet
to fix his salary at Channelkirk.

* Heritors' Records.

SCHOOLS AND SCHOOLMASTERS

329

As the following extract from the Kirk Records gives
us a clear view of this process, together with the parish's
property divisions, and landowners in 1742, we give it in
full :—

"At Channelkirk this fifteenth day of October 1742 years, We, Mr
Henry Home, Minr., Mr James Justice of Justicehall, William Henryson of
Kirktounhill, being appointed to Divide and Locall a Sallary for the
Schoolmaster, in terms of Act of Parliament 1696, unanimously agreed
upon and modified by a full meting of the Heritors of this parish legally
called for that effect upon the 23rd day of Sepr. last, and our School-
master having produced an Extract of his being tryed and approven by
the Presby. of the bounds, and finding that a month cess of the parish
amounts to Seventy and five pound thirteen shilling and 4 penies, out of
which Sixty and six pound thirteen shilling and four penies being de-
duced there is of overplus nine pound, which is the eight part of the
monthly cess of this parish : So that each Heritor is assesed and hereby
appointed to pay seven parts of eight yearly of his months cess to the
Schoolmaster for his Sallary, and is hereby Divided and Localled as
follows : —

1. Barony of Carfrae, belonging to the Marquis of Tweed-

dale ......

2. Headshaw, belonging to Earl of Marchmont

3. Kelphope, belonging to Mr Henry Home, Minr.

4. Clints, belonging to John Borthwick of Crookstoun

Advoc, ......

5. Justicehall, belonging to James Justice, a principal Clerk

of Session .....

6. Over Howden, belonging to James Justice (Scots money)

7. Airhouse & Oxton Mains, belonging to James Somer

vaill ......

8. Collela, belonging to James Fiergrive

g, Bourhouse, belonging to Charles Binning, Pilmuir,
Advoc. ......

10. Threeburnford, belonging to John Gumming, Minr. at
Humbie ......

Carry forward,

£^9 3 2
2 II 6
2 10 4

2 15 6.

2 14 4
500

468
320

2 16 6

I . 8 10
^46 8 10

1 1

lling

and four

330 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

Brought forward, . ^46 8 10

1 1. Glengelt and Netherhouden, belonging to Wm. Hunter's

(Merchant in Edinburgh, deceased) Heirs

12. Cardross Teinds, belonging to Ker of Morrieston

13. Heriotshall, belonging to John Murray .

14. Nether Hartsyde and Over Hartsyde, belonging to Alex.

Dalziell ......

15. Kirktounhill, belonging to Wm. Henryson

Amounting in all to Sixty and six pound thirteen shil
penies.

Which yearly Sallary is to be payed to Mr John Lang, present school-
master, at two terms in the year by equal proportions."

The total is actually £66, 1 3s. 8d.

The terms are Martinmas and Whitsunday, and the
same arrangements are to hold good "to his successors in
that office," on their producing sufficient testimonials from
the Presbytery of the Bounds.

Mr Lang is found Session-clerk in 1744; and again in
I753> at a joint meeting of heritors and elders, and a com-
mittee of Presbytery, he is chosen to the same office. The
purpose of this meeting was to inquire into the administra-
tion of the kirk funds, which, during far too many years
of the Rev. Henry Home's incumbency, had been mis-
appropriated to a considerable extent.

"The Committee proceeded to inquire into the manage-
ment of the poor's money since the death of Mr Home,
which happened June i6th, 175 1, find that Mr John
Lang, Schoolmaster of Channelkirk, had received," from
various sources, the sum of ^95, lis. 3d. Lang is charged
with this sum, and after deducting certain moneys they
find him indebted to the Kirk- Session to the extent of
£4.1, i6s. 3d. Scots. In the year 1754, on 20th May, at a
meeting of Kirk-Session, " Mr Lang's bill this day granted
and payable against Martinmas next for £'^0, los. 3d.

SCHOOLS AND SCHOOLMASTERS 331

Scots." But Martinmas comes and Martinmas goes and
the bill remains unredeemed, and on lo March 1755 he
dies, and his successor has written in the Records the
following sibylline legend. (We omit the copperplate pen-
manship and all the embroidery) : —

1755
March 10. Mr JoHN Lang

Schoolm' Deceased

A G 1 B— r & D r.

We humbly interpret the last part to mean "A Great
Beggar and Debtor," with reference, perhaps, to his having
been unable to pay back the poor's money which he had
used out of the kirk treasury. At the foot of this
memorial, his successor in the same handwriting puts his
name as —

Lancelot Whale

T '757

Poor Lang had been hard pressed for the kirk money
it seems. " George Sommervaill has Thomas Trotter's bill "
(another delinquent !) " in his hand, and Mr Lang's bill
was given to Mr Robert Henderson, writer in Lauder, to
procure payment ! " It was jail for debt in those days, as
Burns's father dreaded a few years later. But Lang was
safe from all manner of law processes, though we find his
bill carried on through the books till May 7, 1760. On
that day we have it minuted, " The Session think it quite
needless to carry on Trotter's and Lang's bills in their

332 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

accounts, as it's not likely they will ever be paid." Not
likely ! So Lang's debts sink into the tomb with his
harassed bones, there to await the final account and
reckoning of all. There are touching notes here and there
concerning monthly donations given from the poor's box
to his widow, Mrs Lang, till August 1757, when they, too,
cease. As late, however, as 17th May 1759, four years
after Lang's death, there is this suspicious entry — " Received
from Mr Dalziel of Hartsyde for Mr John Lang, a year's
salary." Can it be that this item, £6, had been held back
or neglected in Lang's lifetime? Mrs Lang is receiving
aliment in 1755, and it is only surrendered by Mr Dalziel
in 1759, two years after she seems to have either died
or left the district. Mr Dalziel may have suspicioned that
Lang was keeping up the poor's money, and hesitated to
give him more !

In such gloomy circumstances does John Lang, .school-
master in Channelkirk, disappear from time.

Lancelot Whale seems to have become his successor.
His name is written very pompously on the Records, but
extremely little more is recognisable of him. He gives
his date as the 14th day of March 1757. There is no
mention of his entering upon his duties, but the kirk
accounts up till 7th x^ugust 1757 are clearly in his hand-
writing, though the usual notice of moneys given to the
teacher for " Session-clerk and poor scholars " keeps back
his name. We have, however, the following — " 20th
December 1758. To Lancelot Whale his dues preceding
Martinmas last, £^" But on 5th March of the same year
there is in different handwriting — " To an advertisement
in ye news papers for a Schoolmaster, £2, 2s." This may
mean a belated payment for the advertisement to which

SCHOOLS AND SCHOOLMASTERS 333

he himself responded. But it is more likely that he had
left or was dead, as the school appears to be vacant. On
4th March 1759, little more than a month after Poet
Burns's birth be it observed, this remark occurs — " To
George Henderson for presenting while we had no School-
master, £^" Mr Whale had, as was customary, led the
psalmody in the church. He thus seems to vanish alto-
gether from the scene. Robert Niell succeeded.

On the 28th May 1759 Robert Niell is Session-clerk,
and receives of kirk money for the " poor scholars ' " educa-
tion the usual sum of £4.

Mr Niell is also precentor in the church : — " To the
Schoolmaster for presenting, £2" is set down under 20th
August 1759. He is married in June 1762, having had a
new schoolhouse built previously, and, of course, a school
also, which was usually a room within and above the school-
hou.se premises. The following tells the tale : —

" Channelkirk, Nov. 17th, 1760." Session meets and
arranges poor's money. " After this Mr Scott " (Rev.
David) " represented that upon his application to a
general meeting of the heritors of this Parish of Channel-
kirk held here on the 17th day of May 1759 years, they
did then grant and allot ye Hundred merks of vacant
salary that fell due at Martinmas 1758, for building a
new .schoolhouse, and empowered Mr Scott to uplift said
salary and find out a proper situation for the house. They
al.so recommended it to Mr Dalziell of Hartside and Mr
Scott to meet with James Watherstone of Kirktounhill
anent the stance of said house. Which accordingly being
done, the said James Watherstone was prevailed on to
gift to the Kirk-Session and Parish of Channelkirk that
spot of ground for the stance of .said house lying immedi-

■fj-.

334 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

ately on the west end of the yard presently possessed by
the schoolmaster, and frankly consented that said school-
house should be built, and stand there rent free in all
time coming, the schoolmaster being only obliged to pay
yearly one shilling sterling for said kail yard. In conse-
quence of which the Session gratefully acknowledge their
obligation for said gift, and order this to be insert in this
day's Minute."

Well done Kirktonhill Heritor ! one is delighted to find
a green spot among such extensive waste land of Sahara
Heritordom. The lOO merks lay conveniently to hand
because no schoolmaster was in the parish to receive it.
The schoolhouse and school had been, as usual, at the
lowest condition of decay, dirt, and inhabitableness, but
not a heritor would stir to mend matters till the parish
suffered in its children's education for a season, and the
little rill of grudged and compelled money from the heritor
reservoirs dammed up into a dub big enough to float the
village school and schoolhouse on. How pathetic the
passionate gratitude of the Kirk - Session, too, for such
unheard-of beneficence! But, alas, the loo merks, super-
latively abundant as they were, came short in meeting the
extensive wants of this village school. " The Session con-
sidering that another table and two seats for the scholars
would be wanting to furnish said schoolhouse ; and well
knowing that the forsaid Hundred merks would not be
sufficient to answer all these purposes, Did therefore resolve
to supply what might be further necessary out of the
remainder of the two months' cess mentioned as given in
by Mr Scott in the foregoing minute ; that so useful a work
and so conducive to the public good might not be re-
tarded."

SCHOOLS AND SCHOOLMASTERS 335

The two months' cess had been asked by the Session from
the heritors to relieve the poor with oats, meal, etc., " during
the late scarcity " (minute of date 7th May 1760), but which
fell short after all, and one heritor in Justicehall, Cunningham,
writer to the Signet, ashamed, it appears, of the scrimp
measure, gave a half-guinea out of his own pocket rather
than see poor folk starve ! If we are not mistaken this
" Cunningham " was Alex. Cunningham of Lathrisk, Fife-
shire, third son of Ninian Cunningham, writer in Edinburgh.
He died 17th August 1780.

Good Rev. David Scott ! He strives hard to get his
people's stomachs filled, and also pang them fu' o' knowledge.
He feels, however, another strait place. " Mr Scott further
represented that he had collected only the sum of sixty-five
pds. two shillings and ten pennies Scots, there being a
deficiency by the Titular's refusing to pay his part of the
salary ever since its first erection into a legal salary."
The Titular was Ker of Morreston, in Legerwood. But the
minister continues the good work. " Mr Scott by ye help of
the parish having carried on ye building of said schoolhouse,
and it being now finished, did therefore lay ye whole
charge before the Session amounting to the sum of one
hundred and four pounds twelve shillings and six pennies
Scots, including the price of ye table and two seats for-
said."

Here is the " furnishing " of a school in the middle of the
last century. " At ye above date ye Session likewise thought
proper to record that now there belong to ye schoolhouse two
new tables, one of them measuring ten foot, and ye other
eleven foot in length, as also two old seats measuring ten feet
per piece, and two new seats measuring ten feet and a half per
piece. Besides a good new lock and key for the door, and a pair

336 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

of new tongs for ye hearth — and all ye glasses in the four
windows are whole." Viewing the whole in table form
we get : —

2 tables, new combined length, 2 1 feet.
2 seats, old, „ 20 „

2 „ new, „ 21 „

I new lock.
I „ key.
I pair of tongs.

4 windows, or say "boles," i pane each ! and "all whole," thus
bearing testimony to the boys' good behaviour then.

Reckoning by the seat-room (the de.sk-room is about
half), and allowing i foot, or thereby, to every scholar, we
get an approximation of the number attending the school to
be nearly forty. In such severe circumstances, and with such
drawbacks without and within his little thatched school,
Robert Niell continued to develop the intellect of the rising
generation around him ; the Kirk - Session adding what
driblet of help it could from kirk offerings for poor scholars
to the cess laid on the heritors, and receiving for his own
behoof a mite now and then for " presenting at the sacra-
ment," he being a bit of a singer, no doubt. In December
1770, he receives his last mention in an entry giving him £4.
from the kirk treasury, " for Session-clerk and poor scholars,"
doubtless, and then in August 4, 1771, the minute: "To
Margaret Niell for poor scholars and Session-clerk for half a
year preceding Whitsunday 1771 years," tells the remainder
of his history. He had been schoolmaster in Channelkirk for
twelve years. How long his wife Margaret survived him
we have now no means of knowing.

In the year 1771, on the 29th day of March, at Channel-
kirk : " The school in this place being just now vacant by
the death of the late schoolmaster, it was therefore thought
proper to take the usual steps for the election of another."

SCHOOLS AND SCHOOLMASTERS 337

Accordingly, the intimation from the pulpit " on the 17th
day of this currt." calls a general meeting of the heritors —
non-resident heritors, always a large quantity, being informed
by letters. On the 29th " the heritors of the Parish of
Channelkirk, and all others concerned being call'd at the
most patent door of the kirk at one o'clock post meridiem —
there compeared " three heritors and the minister and a few
proxies, " and coming to the business," and " to a vote,
unanimously made choice of John M'Dougal, the teacher
of Mr Thomson's children and others in l^urnhouse," near
Fountainhall, parish of Stow. Mr M'Dougal was well known
to Mr Borthwick, Crookston, who could not attend the meet-
ing for the distance, but who writes the minister to say that
he looks upon John M'Dougal " to be a very discreet young
man," and " hopes to hear of their fixing upon " him.
Another meeting is called on the nth June 1772, to consider
the repairing of school and schoolhouse. Tweeddale does not
appear, nor Lauderdale, nor the lairds of Bowerhouse, nor
Nether Howden, nor Marchmont, nor Threeburnford, nor " the
rest," but " although the rest of the heritors did not subscribe
the agreement, yet they paid their respective proportion of
the three months' cess for the above reparations." It was the
customary way. One or two did the " appointments " and
thatching or patching, and the rest being comfortably out of
the parish pocketing its rents, paid their share to have quit
of the bother. What were a few hundreds of people, and a
schoolmaster ?

Worthy and " very discreet " John M'Dougal, therefore,
walks on to the treadmill, and dutifully and patiently grinds
out his scholars creditably to himself and the parish that
owned them. A man for whom we have the highest respect.
He has always the good of the children in view, and as we

338 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

learn from an aged living authority, whose boyhood was
directed by him, he was esteemed and loved by them. Born
in 1743, he was a young man of twenty-eight when he
became Channelkirk schoolmaster. He married Margaret
Smibert, and had a family, and the routine duties of school,
Session-clerk, heritor's clerk, etc., filled in an uneventful life
till he reached the long age of eighty-six. His tombstone,
which stands a few yards south-east from the church door,
declares that he faithfully discharged the duties of his office
for fifty-nine years.

During such a prolonged official reign, several changes
necessarily transpired, though none, perhaps, were of more
than local interest. Both on account of the hill on which the
school was built, and the long road which in winter could not
be traversed by children, he had come to the conclusion that
the removal of school and, of course, schoolhouse was im-
perative for the good of the parish. Accordingly, on 9th
October 1789, he desires the heritors, in a letter to them, to
have these " removed to a more centrical and convenient
place " (Oxton was in his mind, no doubt) " for accommodating
the parishioners in sending their children to school." The
heritors, by a majority, concur in the view, but decide
nothing. Borthwick objects. The proposal naturally fell
asleep for another six years. Mr M'Dougal's next move
was both educational and pious. In the church, 14th May
1 79 1, the heritors " being informed that said John M'Dougal
has for some time past examined his scholars in the church
publickly every Sabbath when there was sermon, and being
willing to encourage such practice in stirring up emulation
among children under his charge, do therefore order him ten
shillings and sixpence sterling yearly after this date for his
trouble, during his giving proper attention to said work and

SCHOOLS AND SCHOOLMASTERS 339

satisfaction to the residing heritors." A pleasant item
this, and creditable to all parties.

I" I795> the schoolmaster's plan to have the school
shifted from Channelkirk down hill to Oxton village
realised itself in a thoroughly practicable way. The 9th
day of June of that year the heritors at a meeting " Did
and hereby do resolve to change the situation of the school
and schoolmaster's house from Channelkirk to Ugston,
and resolved to take in plans upon that idea." Borthwick
still protested. Six years of meditation had not staled
his purpose. The school and schoolhouse were to be one
building, the school on the basement and the schoolhouse
in the upper storey, and the whole structure 28 ft, long,
18 ft. wide, and 17 ft. high. It still stands in the village,
and is now the schoolhouse, a new school having been built
later in its neighbourhood and not in the best situation.

Early in 1796 the schoolmaster must have removed to
Ugston, He is in the old schoolhouse on 22nd January,
but on 20th May declares himself satisfied in his ac-
commodation respecting a school and schoolhouse. The
schoolmaster's house at Channelkirk was sold to Borthwick,
19th February 1796, for £\6 sterling. We presume its
" stance," which Mr Watherstone, Kirktonhill, gifted in 1760
to the Kirk-Session and Parish of Channelkirk, had been
quietly swallowed down by the heritors in the good old way
that most of Channelkirk kirklands were wolfed in earlier
times. In 1803 an Act of Parliament stirs up heritors
to " make better provision for the parochial schoolmasters,"
High time, too. Few important and national institutions
have had a more disgraceful history. But until the national
mind awoke and its voice became heard in Parliament, the
people had no help from the upper powers, and so had to

340 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

do its best with its handful of oatmeal. Mr M'Dougal
had his salary fixed under this Act at 350 merks Scots.
He must have been too happy. Actually ;^I9, 8s. lOy^gd.
sterling annually ! Fancy a man undergoing the drudgery
of school life with the weight of such wealth upon him.
But this was not all. The school fees fairly flooded his
" hugger."

For reading . . .is. 6d. per quarter.

„ reading and writing . . . 2s. 6d. „

„ reading, writing, and arithmetic . 3s. „

Perhaps he had, in all, ^50 sterling a year. Another
school is mentioned in 181 8. One William Stirling, a boy,
is on the Poor's Roll, and on ist May 18 18 is continued
by the heritors " upon the understanding that he should
immediately look out for a situation, and with the assurance
that he would not on any account be continued longer upon
the roll than till Martinmas first. The meeting, however,
agreed that he might go to Mr Paterson's school, and get
such education as Mr Paterson should be willing to teach
him." Let little Willie Stirling take that ! But where " Mr
Paterson's school might be — in Oxton, Nether Howden, or
Carfraemill — it seems now impossible to say. Mr M'Dougal
had his rivals, evidently. Perhaps it was a matter of
indifference to him. The world was now becoming grey
around him, and the shadows of age were casting their
gloom over his path. The sad and tragic fate of his brother
in Edinburgh must have deepened the waters of life for
him, he having undergone the lethal extremity of the law.
At anyrate, on the 30th April 18 19, he applies for an assist-
ant, owing to age, infirmity, and late sickness. His letter of
application, we are told, was " heard with deep regret."

SCHOOLS AND SCHOOLMASTERS 341

Heritors accept the inevitable and appoint an assistant.
Mr M'Dougal receives the salary, house and garden, and
the assistant is to get the school fees and the perquisites
usual to schoolmasters, such as clerkships, precentorship, etc.
Heritors "thank him for the great attention he has paid
to all his duties as schoolmaster, heritors' and Session clerk,
for these forty-eight years past." The school fees are also
raised — these came out of the parishioners' pockets — in
order to make " the situation," as it is graciously said, " as
respectable as possible." The heritors make up other ten
pounds to the fixed salary. The fees, to be paid in advance,
were : —

For English ..... 2s. per quarter.
„ writing . . . . . 3s. „

„ arithmetic . . . .4s. „

„ Latin and French . . .6s. „

" To teache Grammer and the Latine toung yf the town
be of any reputatioun," said Knox. Here we are to have
not only Latin but French, and we are not a town but an
ordinary village. It is a sure sign that the nation is
awakening. It is 18 19.

Eight candidates sit to be examined by the ministers
for this assistantship, and Nichol Dodds from Edinburgh
comes out victorious. He enters upon his duties, and is
so successful that to contain the increase of scholars the
schoolhouse is enlarged by the cubic area of an adjoining
coalhouse which is then included, and a new coalhouse
added on Dodd's suggestion.

Years roll past, and Mr M'Dougal enjoys his otium cum
dignitate till the iith day of October 1829, when we have
in the Kirk Records, " Mortcloth for Mr M'Dougal, school-
master, 6s," He died on Thursday, 1st of October, and

342 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

was buried on Sunday the nth, having, as we have noticed,
attained the advanced age of eighty-six. His wife survived
him more than nine years, and died at Pathhead Ford, ist
January 1839, having reached the great age of ninety-eight.
A sturdy, thrifty, patient couple we can imagine them to
have been, entertaining gods unaware Hke Philemon and
Baucis, though denied their request at last. A contemporary
informs us that M'Dougal was a notable personage in the
parish. He was middle-sized, hard-featured, and wore his
grey hair long behind. He always wore knee-breeches
and rig-and-fur stockings, which came down over his shoes.
He was an inveterate snuffer, and was often treated to
an ounce by his scholars when they wished to mollify him.
For he was a rather sharp disciplinarian, but a good teacher,
though he had not " the langidges," and was warmly beloved
by his pupils, old and young. A custom prevailed of
" locking him out " of school on the " shortest day," which
he accepted good-naturedly. One of the good old stock
of parochial schoolmasters evidently, and in sympathetic
touch with all sections of the community, yet neither op-
pressively the dominie nor pompously the gentleman,
carrying himself with respect in his school and esteem in
his church, and making himself useful and necessary in
both official and social spheres.

His chair and ferula fell in due course to his assistant
and successor, Mr Nichol Dodds. Mr Dodds' salary stood
now at ;^30 sterling, and the school fees were to remain
as fixed on 14th May 18 19. He was, it would appear, a
native of Smailholm (born in 1793, and was twenty-six
years old when he came first to Channelkirk), young, tall,
and stoutly built. It is jokingly told that when he entered
on his school duties, the then parish minister, the Rev.

SCHOOLS AND SCHOOLMASTERS 343

John Brown, commended him from the pulpit to the warm
sympathies of the people. He was young, he is reported
to have said, he was clever, and had all the gifts of a good
teacher, but he was not sure if he was gifted with a big
purse, and advised the people to be as kind to him as
possible. He was notable as a capital teacher and a hard
worker. He taught "the langidges," and was very strict
in discipline. From a boy, like Samuel, he had been set
apart by his mother for the ministry. The woman was
worthy to have such a noble purpose. Her husband was
killed by the fall of a tree just at the time when her son
was born, and with a lion's heart she faced the struggle that
lay before her in bringing up her family. She did this,
as many a Scotch mother has done it before and since, by
her own hard work, tending her garden and cow, her churn
and her poultry, and driving her " shelty " herself to Kelso
from Smailholm with the produce. Alas ! at the end
of it all was disappointment too, as the humble exchequer
did not prove equal to a minister's curriculum, and so
the son was devoted instead to the teaching profession.
Perhaps the knowledge of this had something to do with
that sternness in him which almost reached the level of
harshness on occasions. But he accepted his lot, went
through the usual training, settled in Channelkirk parish,
as we have seen, and remembering his mother's devotion,
brought her to his house in Oxton village to keep his home
for him, — no wife, it appears, having ever been thought of.
There the stream of life carried them forward, through deep
and shallow, calm and storm, till all ended, and the shadows
shut them in for ever.

We gather from a Presbytery examination of the school
on 2nd September 1823, that "seventy-five children were

344 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

present, the average number attending the school being
eighty-five ; that the branches taught are English, Writing,
Arithmetic, Practical Mathematics, and Latin."

The old custom of "locking out the maister on the
shortest day " he rather resented, and a " scene " between
him and his "big" scholars on that account is yet re-
membered with mixed feelings. Saturday "half-day" was
" revisal day," and usually the hardest of the week. On
one occasion one of the scholars was " kept in " for not
giving satisfaction, and as the teacher lived above the
school and the rest of the scholars played in its immediate
vicinity, after an horur or two, a natural desire was ex-
pressed by a few to " gang roond tae the back " to see how
it fared with the prisoner. On going round, the prisoner
was seen suspended, half in, half out, over the window-sill,
he having attempted to escape, liberty being sweet, but had
found himself caught by the down-coming sash, and so hung
with his head and hands within and his body without. He
would certainly have soon died, and was only rescued
in time. He left the school for good.

Dodds seems to have been a " religious " man, and an
elder, though he liked a glass of toddy in the old-fashioned
way. He was never married. He did a good deal of the
farmers' business after school hours, and was much in
company with them. His portrait gives his personal
appearance as in harmony with all we know of his character.
A man of middle height, clad in immaculate though not
uncreased broadcloth, with clear, piercing, rather small
eyes, lofty forehead, with the scant locks of hair curved
forward over each ear ; firm shut lips, following, nevertheless,
Hogarth's line of beauty ; strong cheekbones, prominent
enough to cast shadows beneath them and over the

SCHOOLS AND SCHOOLMASTERS 345

melancholy droop of the lips below ; a rugged Roman
nose indicative of much, and a chin like the peak of a
Phrygian cap turned upwards, as if making reconnaissance
of it. Not a hair is anywhere visible on the face, eyebrows
and eyelashes excepted, and the whole head is poised upon
a prim stand-up collar, with its strength of starch still further
strengthened by a band of black silk neckerchief, whose
carefully-tied knot is somewhat awry. His whole appear-
ance is formal in tone, as if he were conscious of his dignity,
and the mouth has just that rigidity of aspect which is
thoroughly Scotch, and which, it is said, is acquired by too
much inward brooding over the solemnities of life, and
especially the Sabbath day, and repeating too often the
Shorter Catechism.

While in Oxton his peculiarities did not escape ob-
servation. As precentor in the parish church, it was noted
that he had great facility of musical improvisation, and with
" Coleshill " as his theme or " motif," could stretch its notes,
prolonged or abbreviated, over every kind of verse in psalm
or paraphrase. To a precentor with limited selection of
tunes this is a saving gift, and dexterously enables him to
surmount obstacles, turn corners, or bridge gulfs, which to a
man of less genius prove fatal. Mr Dodds' gift of prayer
was also much admired. His foes declared, however, that
a little stimulus of aqua vitcB was necessary to sustain
or rouse the full unctuous "flow." He always upheld the
now almost obsolete custom of family worship at night.
But stern in principle, he was also stern in manner, and
it became awkward when, just at " prayer-time," he would
drop ofif into a sound snooze by the fire. There sat the
"congregation," patiently waiting till he was pleased to
awaken, no one daring to disturb his repose, though all the

346 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

younger members were nodding to be in bed. For we must
explain that besides his mother, his young nephew, after-
wards Mr Dodds, teacher in Gordon, and others stayed
under his roof, and received their education from him.

The event of his Oxton career was when the year of 1 843
gave the Scottish Kirk a " shog," and rent a large portion of
its membership after the Free Church. He became a strong
Disruptionist, and gave practical illustration of it by severing
himself from the parish church. This, of course, was tanta-
mount to rending himself from his place as parish school-
master, and from the various perquisites which it yielded. He
had been Session-clerk since 1823, and had acted as an elder
since 1829, although not properly ordained till 1833. He
was very anxious, in 1837, that the parish should be divided
into elders' " districts," so that each elder might superintend
his portion of church members and " use means to induce the
people to attend the church more regularly," but got no
support. But on 5th November 1843, he himself is declared
to have stayed away from church " for some months," and
loses thereby the post of Session-clerk. A more serious loss,
however, was pending. " At Lauder, the 2nd day of April
1844 years, which day and place the Presbytery of Lauder
being met and constituted with prayer — inter alia — Mr
Dodds, schoolmaster of the parish of Channelkirk, having
been summoned apud acta at the meeting of 5th December
last to attend the meeting of Presbytery in April ; compeared
personally, and also by Mr Cunningham as his agent ; being
asked if he was a member of the Established Church —
made answer that he declined to answer that question ;
being further asked if he was a member of any other church
— declined to answer that question ; being further asked if he
adhered to his former declaration that he would not sign

SCHOOLS AND SCHOOLMASTERS 347

the formula of the Church of Scotland without explanation —
declines again to sign the formula, seeing there was no law
requiring him to do so. The Presbytery having considered
this painful case, find that Mr Dodds, by his refusal to sign
the formula of the Church of Scotland, has disqualified himself
from holding the office of parochial schoolmaster of the parish
of Channelkirk, and hereby declare accordingly that the said
office is vacant from this date, and appoint the minister of
the parish to intimate the same in the parish kirk next Lord's
Day."

And so poor Mr Dodds was cut adrift from his means of
livelihood and his status as schoolmaster. To fall among
the wheels of the ecclesiastical Juggernaut is to be crushed
to death. The laws of churches are nearly all begotten of
bigotry, nursed in intolerance, and administered in spite.
Few of them but have passed, or are passing, through the
cycle of pious power, sanctimonious tyranny, and con-
temptuous expulsion and disgrace. It will never be other-
wise until a legal training is given to those who would
usurp a legal authority over others. The root principle
assumed in Church law is " compel them," and the purpose
is not that they may " come in," but that they may go out.
The ideal wheels round with Eden's sword. Dodds was only
a little in advance of the age which saw education lifted
above the sandy bickerings of Presbyteries, and one regrets
that he and so many others should have had to suffer so
much in temporalities to satisfy the cruel maw of so-called
spirituals. But a vast deal must be endured to reverence
formulas, God wot!

In the year previous, his school and schoolhouse had
been insured against fire for ^200. It is a pity the ecclesi-
astical fires cannot be insured against also. Nevertheless,

348 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

although he was thrust out, he did not lose heart. Calmly
he set to work and manfully built a new school for himself
in the village — the same building which is yet used as a
storeroom by the principal grocer — and being a first-class
teacher, he drew away almost all the children, and left the
parish school rather high and dry for many a day. In
1853 we find him far from being rooted out of Channel-
kirk ; rather he roots himself more deeply in it, for in August
4th of that year we find him (Sasines, 569) seised in " 5000
square feet of the lands of Heriotshall, on the north side of
the road from Ugston to Wideopen Common — on feu-contract
between Rev. T. Murray and Andrew Reid Smith, Ugston,
March 24th, 1848, and Disp. and Assig. by him, June 5th,
1848." A man who compelled his circumstances, evidently,
and was not driven before them. A brave, enduring man.
All honour to him. The sturdiness and self-reliance of the
Scotch nature were strong in him, — albeit, also, the old Celtic
heat and impetuosity ; but so long as the steam drives in the
right direction we do not despise the steam. He continued
to thrive till the end of his days. He joined the Free Kirk
of Lauder, was an elder and Session-clerk in that denomina-
tion, and died 2nd May 1863. The Records of that church
say : — "At Lauder, 17th May 1863 years. — The Kirk-Session
record their deep regret at the somewhat sudden and unex-
pected death of Mr Nichol Dodds, on the second day of this
month. They record the high estimation in which he was
held, for the simplicity of his character and great Christian
worth. He was the last of the Disruption elders who
belonged to this Session." So another good man passed to
his rest, and the echo of his worth yet sounds in Channel-
kirk parish. A man, truly, who carried his head and heart
above the level of bread and butter, and deemed it better to

SCHOOLS AND SCHOOLMASTERS 349

suffer in his social and official comforts than bear the inward
snubs of an accusing conscience. As to the lasting wisdom
of the movement which whirled him upwards — or downwards
— on its wings, we have no remark to make, but the worth
of Nichol Dodds remains all the same, and his humble
mission in Channelkirk had a special value beyond the
area of his schoolroom, and adds new lustre to the character
of its schoolmasters. He was buried in Smailholm church-
yard, and his tombstone notes that he was aged 70, and was
forty-four years a zealous and successful teacher in Channel-
kirk.

The school which was begun by Nichol Dodds, and which
was known as the " Free Kirk School," or locally, the " Side-
School," was carried on after his death by Alexander Den-
holm. He was born at Tynemount, in the parish of
Ormiston, Haddingtonshire, on the 26th September 1842.
He was educated at the Free School, Ormiston, and went
from there to the Free Church Training College, Edinburgh,
on January 1863. He married Margaret Edgar in Tranent
— born at Greendykes, Gladsmuir, September 1865 — and
shortly after came to Oxton Free Church School. He did
not teach many years there, and left Oxton to take up resi-
dence in Hillhouse as shepherd. He died on 14th December
1895, regretted by all the parish, and is buried in Channel-
kirk churchyard. A most lovable man, genial and hearty
in all his ways, a fine singer, a faithful servant and a staunch
Christian, and interested himself in all that concerned the
well-being of the parish.

When Nichol Dodds was deposed in 1844, he was
succeeded in the parish school by Alexander Davidson.
We believe he was a native of Sprouston, having been born
there in 181 2, and he obtained the situation in Channelkirk

350 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

in competition with other three candidates. He had been a
teacher for some time in Mowhaugh, and was 32 years of
age when he came to us. He does not seem to have been
so markedly " religious " in his ways as his predecessor, but
was a good man notwithstanding. He was never married.
He was a keen fisher, and every opportunity was embraced
in summer nights to ply the gentle craft. Not being very
robust, the habit was not always in his favour, as he was
consumptively disposed, and ultimately succumbed to phthisis.
He is remembered as a strict disciplinarian, but had " ways "
of getting the scholars into proficiency. A new school was
built in his time.

The Presbytery, in 1847, respectfully drew the attention
of heritors to the necessity for a " suitable building " for
educational purposes. In the usual way the building was
allowed to lapse into a wretched condition, and heritors were
indifferent till cajoled into taking cognisance of it. But six
years between a proposal and the action taken upon it is
not an uncommon occurrence in Channelkirk. So it was not
till 1853 that the heritors, having examined the building,
naively acknowledge that "the schoolroom is at present in
a state of considerable disrepair ; the floor, internal fittings,
and windows are all in a dilapidated condition." The ceiling
is 7 ft. 7 in., and far too low. The schoolhouse is confessed
to be damp also. Therefore, with some grudgings and
protests, it is agreed to build a new school, and turn the old
one into a more commodious residence for the schoolmaster.
Consequently, the stance on the Bowknowe — the present
site — was procured, and a school begun. It was unfinished
in the last days of December of 1854, to the heritors'
regret.

Considering, also, that the price of the chalder had fallen

SCHOOLS AND SCHOOLMASTERS 351

for some time back, and thereby Mr Davidson's salary had
suffered, it was decreed that he receive the maximum allow-
ance of two chalders of meal, with a small compensation of
money sufficient to level it up to the ^^30 sterling. But this
arrangement was then upset by a new Act of Parliament anent
the salaries of parochial schoolmasters, though not till 24th
October 1859 was it known that the schoolmaster was to
receive £^4, 4s. 4d. — the odd pounds being compensation in
respect that the garden ground was less than the statutory
extent. A great deal of interest in schools and schoolmasters
must have been felt at this time in Parliament, and another
Act moved the salaries in the right direction in 1861. On
the 2nd November 1861, heritors "after due deliberation
resolve to fix the schoolmaster's salary, in terms of the above
recited Act (24 and 25 Vict. cap. 107), at the sum of ;^40."
This may have pleased the heritors, but it did not satisfy
the minister, Mr Rutherford. On 12th February 1863, the
heritors meet to consider among other things " the following
report of the parish school made by the late minister of this
parish to the Lord Advocate — * The school is, and has been
ever since the present teacher was appointed, very well
taught, and he ought to have the encouragement of a
higher rate of salary than that which has been fixed b}'
the heritors.'" The minister died in 1862, and this must
have been among his last acts. The heritors, however, say
not a word of all they considered.

The barometric pressure on heritors still continued in
the .schoolmaster's interest till, in 1864, ^^ Davidson's salary
was raised to £^0. With a new school to enter in 1855, and
a new schoolhouse somewhat later (albeit the old schoolhouse
had just absorbed the school below it), and his salary at ;^50,
the schoolmaster must be looked upon as then a prosperous

352 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

man. All this luxury was not enjoyed long, for in 1866, on
the 29th April, he paid the debt of nature in his fifty-fifth
year, and passed from Channelkirk school for ever. He was
an elder in the parish church from 1845, ^^^ seems to have
been highly esteemed by the minister and congregation. He
sleeps in Channelkirk churchyard, where his tombstone still
preserves his memorial.

The schoolmaster who came in his room is the present
official, Henry Marshall Liddell.

Mr Liddell was born at Strathloanhead, in the parish of
Torphichen, Linlithgowshire, on 27th January 1839, and was
educated at the parish school there ; he afterwards studied at
the Church of Scotland Training College, and at Edinburgh
University. He holds a first-class certificate from the Educa-
tion Department. The degree of Fellow of the Educational
Institute of Scotland was conferred on him in 1871.

At a very early age he started teaching, and was suc-
cessively in charge of four other schools previous to his
appointment to Channelkirk, which took place on 2nd July
1 866. He has been teacher here for thirty-three years. He
has always taken an interest in educational matters, and has
been secretary of the Lauderdale Local Association of the
Educational Institute since its formation in 1877. He was
elected a member for three years of the General Committee
of Management of the Institute for the South-eastern
Counties, and was president of the Burgh and Parochial
Schoolmasters Association in 1898-99. During his residence
in this parish, he has filled the various offices which usually
supplement that of teaching, viz., — poor inspector, rates
collector, registrar, and heritors' clerk. He was also Session-
clerk from 1867 to 1875, and again from 1885 to 1895.
Since 1872, when the School Board system was instituted.

SCHOOLS AND SCHOOLMASTERS 353

he has been clerk and treasurer to the School .Board of
Channelkirk. He is secretary and treasurer to the Oxton
Bovial Society, and held the presidentship of the same for
sixteen years. From this Society, and from his pupils and
friends in the parish at various times, he has been the
recipient of valuable gifts. He is married and has family.

Mr Liddell is much esteemed in the parish, is kind and
obliging, is a good " business man," drills his scholars well,
and is most exemplary in his attendance at church.

The number of scholars enrolled in 1890 varied between
120 and 130 : in 1898, between 90 and 100. The children in
general are cleanly and well-dressed, but timid in manner,
and give their answers, if at all, in monosyllables. The
external evidences of politeness, as in most rural districts,
are nil, but the children are not on that account rude. On
the contrar}-, the blate smile and hanging head are to us far
more eloquent of respect than the straight neck and the
" cap " or " kirtsey," and perhaps more sincere. A number
of children go from Oxton to the school at Lauder, and a few
are taught privately.

CHAPTER XIII

THE BARONIES

OXTON

The Name, Origin, Meaning, and History — The Proprietors — Oxton
"Territory" — Kelso Abbey — The Abernethies — The Setons — Home
of Herniecleuch — Ugston and Lyleston — Heriots of Trabrown — The
Templar Lands of Ugston — James Cheyne — James Achieson —
Division of Ugston Lands — Wideopen Common— Inhabitants of
Oxton — Trades in 1794 and in 1900 — Gentry, Tradesmen, Merchants,
etc., in 1825 and in 1866 — Oxton Church — Societies.

Oxton village is the only considerable centre of population
in this parish. It lies in the form of a cross along the two
roads whose intersection at its heart shows that they must
have practically directed its conformation. It is a pleasant,
sequestered little place, 21 miles from Edinburgh and 4I from
Lauder. Situated on the right bank of one of the tributaries
of the Leader, commonly called Mountmill Burn, but formerly
" Arras Water," it contains 1 54 inhabitants. It never can
have been large, though its prospects in this respect are
now brighter. If it be regarded as the central feature in the
landscape, and taken with a mile radius, it is seen to be
picturesquely environed by Airhouse Hill on the west, Soutra
and Headshaw Hills on the north, the Fells of Carfrae on the
east, with the beautiful expanding valley of the Leader
stretching away towards the south. When the springtime
brings the opening bud and the sportive lamb, or when

OXTON 355

autumn brightens the natural pensiveness of the Lammer-
moors with purple heather and sweeping uplands of waving
corn, it were difficult, perhaps, to imagine a more peaceful
scene than that in which it reposes.

It would appear that " Oxton " as a place-name came into
regular use about the middle of the present century. Ugston
is the name which is commonly found in the Parish and other
Records, and on the tombstones in the churchyard ; and it
seems to have been the general form of it for several hundred
years. It must be kept quite distinct from the " Uxtoun " of
Font's map and the Exchequer Rolls, near the Braid Hills,
Edinburgh, and which now appears to be called " Buckstone " ;
and also from the " Oxtoun," or Ugston, in Haddington district.
The Rev. James Rutherford, minister of the parish, writing in
1834 for .the New Statistical Account of Scotland, .says that
Oxton was frequently set down as Agston. We have never
met it in this dress save in his own pages. But it points to
the fact of change being at work in its spelling at that time.
In the " Roll of the Male Heads of Families," the parish
schoolmaster, who was also Session-clerk, puts it down in
1837 as Ugston. Uxton as a variant is sometimes met with,
but in the Exchequer Rolls, the Great Seal, the Retours, the
Sasines, and similar sources, the name appears as Ugstoutt,
Ugstone, Uggistoune, and such like approximations.

The Rev. Henry Cockburne, minister of the parish in
1627, declares that there are "twa husband landis in
Huxtoun " which are kirk lands. He also writes it
Huxstoun. But the " Ugston " model is most general,
although we find it as Uxtoun on Font's map in Blaeu's
Atlas. King James III., for example, at Edinburgh, as far
back as 1464, confirms to Sir William Abernethy in
Rothymay, among many other lands, " the lands of Lilestoun

356 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

and Ugistoune." It appears occasionally in such deeds as
" the barony of Ugistoune," or " the territory of Ugistoune."

When we leave secular ground and enter the ecclesiastical
domain, we find that the name undergoes astonishing
transformations.

In the Liber S. Marie de Drybtirgh, Charter No. 292,
which refers to the lands held in the interests of the diocese
of St Andrews, the following passage occurs : — " And the
tenths of the Mill of Newton and Nenthorn, and two marks
by gift of Sir William Abernethy from the Mill of Wlkeston."
This " Wlkeston " is our Ugston, or Oxton. The charter is
dated circa A.D. 1300.

We get from the monks of Dryburgh the forms Wlkeston,
Ulkeston, and Vlkylyston. Their brethren, the monks of
Kelso Abbey, seem to have been even fonder of va|;ying the
spelling, and, singularly enough, came closer also to the
original form. The reason why Oxton is mentioned in their
Register is because Kelso Abbey for long drew revenue from
the lands of Oxton territory, a connection which appears to
have held good till 1647, when by Act of Parliament it was
separated " from the said sometime Abbacy of Kelso and
Priory of Eccles."*

In the Kelso Register, we find the name set down as
Vlfkelyston, Vlfkeliston, Vlfkiliston, Hulfkeliston, and ulkil-
leston !

Now, at first glance, it does not seem credible that this
Gargantuan " Vlfkylyston " can be the ancient representative
of the modern " Oxton." But thfere is no doubt of it. Both
designate the same place. In a charter from Dryburgh
Register, No. 312, about 1380, the "Mill of Ulkeston" is
said to be in the " Valley of Lauder." This connects

■•' Acts vi.

OXTON 357

" Ulkeston " with Lauderdale, and is so far satisfactory. The
charter itself was originally found in the charter chest of
Thirlestane Castle. This connection is still further confirmed
and carried up into the Parish of Channelkirk by a charter in
the Liber de Calchou (Kelso). In Charter No. 245, Alan, son
of Roland of Galway, Constable of Scotland, gives to God
and the Church of St Mary at Kelso five carucates of land in
Vlfkelyston in Lauderdale, with easements, as a composition
for revenues which Kelso monks held in Galway in the time
of his ancestors, in free and perpetual charity. The
boundaries of these five carucates, or 520 acres, Lord Alan
says, " I myself have walked over." This method of
measuring land by perambulation was then a common one,
and they are defined as beginning " from the head of Holdene
(Over Howden) ; descending by Holdene Burn to Derestrete ;
then northwards from Derestrete by Fuleforde and Samson's
Marches to the Leader ; from the Leader to the eastern
head of the same village of Hulfkeliston ; from the eastern
head of Ulfkiliston by a straight road through the south
village, ascending as far as Derestrete ; thence stretching to
the tofts and crofts of William of Colilawe and of Richard, son
of Ganfred, and so by the same way south to a cross, and
thence towards the west as the crosses are placed, and so to
Holdene." This description is quite conclusive. For those
who know the ground, this rugged outline has considerable
interest, and Lord Alan must have been fairly tired when
he finished his walk round it, " reddin' the marches." Five
carucates were five ploughgates, or five times a hundred and
four acres, and our view of the scene is sufficiently clear to
show us that this ancient Hulfkeliston or Ulfkiliston must have
been the venerable ancestor of the present Oxton. All this
perambulation took place about the year 1206, and as we

358 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

look down Oxton Street to-day and watch in fancy that
spectral procession of nearly seven hundred years ago
approaching and passing on, wending its way towards Over
Howden, many feelings crowd upon us. The past never
ceases to be wonderful. Over Howden and Over Howden
Burn, the Leader, and the village are still with us, and a
part of our common life, but Fuleforde, Derestrete, and
Sampson's Marches have grown dim in the lapse of time.
Fuleforde may have been a ford over the Leader near
Carfrae Mill ; Derestrete is Deirastrete, the road to
Deira, once a province of Northumbria, and believed to
have been the Roman road ; but Samson's Marches are
obliterated beyond even vague conjecture. They may have
been the west boundary of Addinston property. But one
thing is clear, viz., that the present Oxton is the only place
that can fit into the " Ulfkiliston " of the boundary which
Lord Alan of Galway personally walked over.

Again, in the Liber de Dryburgh, No. 185, — "Thomas,
the writer, son of William of Colilawe, prompted by divine
charity, and for the salvation of his soul and the souls of
his ancestors and successors, gives and concedes and con-
firms to God and the Church of Saint Cuthbert at Channel-
kirk, eight acres of land, four arable, and four meadow,
viz., the haugh under Langsyde in the territory of Ulkilston."
This again connects Ulkilston with Channelkirk, and it is
a reasonable conclusion that these acres were identical with
those that formerly made a part of the glebe in Mount Mill
Haugh, and which were excambed a few years ago for
some acres nearer the manse.

The identity of Oxton with this ancient Hulfkeliston
of the charters is admitted by the Rev. J. Morton in his
Monastic Annals of Teviotdale, and by Dr J. Anderson

OXTON 359

in his Diploniata Scotice. In Kelso Charters, No. 246, we
are told, moreover, that William of Hartside is to pay
to the monks an annual rent of 8s., to be paid out of
certain land in Ulkiliston which belonged formerly to
Gillefalyn in that place, and the contiguity of Hartside
to Oxton is another though indirect proof that the
present Oxton is meant by the Ulkeliston of the
charters.

Having now assured ourselves that Oxton, Ugston,
Uxton, Huxston, Uggistoune, Ulkiliston, Ulfkylyston and
Hulfkeliston, are all designations of dne and the same
place, we may pass on to show that they all spring from
one source. Dr Anderson, in his Diploniata Scotics, has this
comment on the name " Ulkilstun " : " Town of Ulfkill, now
contracted Uxton in Lauderdale regality in the Merse."
" Ulfkill" is undoubtedly the principal part of the name,
and the " tun " or " fence " the other. Who, then, was this
Ulfkill? Can we reasonably assume that there was a
person with such a name actually located so many hundred
years ago in the village now called Oxton, who laboriously
lived, fought, sweat, and ploughed by the meandering
rivulet of Clora ? There is a charter which Russell, in
Haigs of Bonersyde, assures us with reasons (p. 30)
must belong to the period 1 162-66 A.D., wherein " William
of Ulkillestun" is a witness to the sale of two families by
Richard de Morville to Henry de Sinclair (Carfrae), serfdom
being prevalent among the working classes of those days.
Here we see that, so early as this time, Ulkillestun is well
established, and gives territorial dignity and status to its pro-
prietor. It seems, however, that there need be no timidity
in assuming that such a person of the name of Ulfkill must
have settled in Upper Lauderdale much earlier even than

360 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

the twelfth century. Peculiar as it looks to us now, the
name of Ulfkill was not at all rare in either Scotland or
England at that time. For instance, our saintly King
David the First (ii 24-1 153) grants to the Church of the
Holy Trinity at Dunfermline his three thralls or serfs —
Ragewein, Gillepatric, and Ulchill. Ulfchill, son of Merewin,
is mentioned in a charter of the same king, giving certain
favours to the Church of St Mary at Haddington. Also,
in one of his charters in connection with Melrose Abbey,
concerning the Grange lands of Eildon and Gattonside, one
Ulfchill, son of Ethelstan, is mentioned as a witness. Still
earlier, in one of the charters of Edward, King of Scots,
one Ulfkill is named as having the nickname Swein. At
that period, indeed, the name Ulfkill seems to have been
quite a common one. From its association in the last
instance with Swein, the name of the father of our Danish
King Canute, it is easy to surmise that Ulfkill is Norse
in origin. In fact, the name is Norse, and nothing else.
But it turns out to be a contraction of the full name
" Ulfcytel." This name, it need not be said, brings us
at once into the full light of history, for the great hero
Ulfcytel must have been as renowned throughout East
Anglia and the North, at the commencement of the
eleventh century, as Sir William Wallace was at the close
of the thirteenth. Under the date A.D. 1004, the Anglo-
Saxon Chronicle tells the story of the incursion of the Danes
upon Norwich, and how Ulfcytel, though of Danish origin
himself, gallantly withstood the hordes of spoilers that
burst over East Anglia, joining battle with them, and
putting them to such hazards that they themselves said,
" they never had met a worse hand-play among the English
nation than Ulfcytel had brought to them." " In him,'

OXTON 361

says Freeman * " England now found her stoutest champion
in her hour of need." And analogous to the " Ulfkillston "
of our charters, it may be noted here that East Anglia is
at that time sometimes called in honour of him *' Ulfkels-
land." He is described, indeed, as ruler of the whole
north of England in the beginning of the eleventh century.
His name, also, was contracted even then to the form
with which we are familiar, for the Danes in their sagas
speak of him, as William of Malmesbury does, by the
term Ulfkill or Ulfkell.

This would seem to give us the right suggestion as to
who this Ulfkill of Lauderdale should be, and how he
came to settle in Channelkirk parish. True, we have not
a shred of further historical ground which is firm enough
to bear us beyond the valley of the Leader in order to
satisfy our natural curiosity as to whether he was British
born, though of Danish descent, or had come red-handed
as a plundering sea-rover to the coast of Northumbria,
ultimately finding a home under the shadow of the Lammer-
moors. But the turmoil and displacement of peoples at
that period render his appearance at the place, now called
Oxton, perfectly rational and probable. This conjecture
is further strengthened when we reflect that all over
Northumbria, which then included Berwickshire, though
not by that name, the Norse element was a predominating
one, and that from 1017 to 1041, the very throne of the
nation was in possession of the Danes. The name of
Ulfcytel was in this country as early as the ninth century,
and those who are interested in this matter have the time
between that period and A.D. iioo, roughly, in which to
fix the original settlement of Oxton. Neither is it im-
* Nonnan Conquest, vol. i.

362 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

probable that a Dane should quietly submit to the
drudgeries of cultivating the land which he had entered
upon at first as a spoiler. The Saxon Chronicle tells us
that in the year 876, Halfdene, who with his Danes had
often carried fire and death into Northumbria, apportioned
its lands out among his followers, " and they thenceforth
continued ploughing and tilling them." Turner includes
Berwickshire in this statement when he says, " Halfden
having completed the conquest of Bernicia, divided it among
his followers, and tilled and cultivated it." * Perhaps this
requires qualification, for on this point the author of
Scotland under her Early Kings has received praise from
Freeman in his Norman Conquest'^' -j* for fully establishing
that " Deira only was actually divided and occupied by
the Danes," If Bernicia had been included in this
Danish division of lands, we might have had strong
historical grounds for assuming that Ulfkill came into
Lauderdale with that influx of Norsemen, seeing that
Berwickshire was included in Bernicia, which then stretched
up to the Forth. Still, it is not denied by Freeman that
Bernicia was then brought under some degree of subjec-
tion by the Danes, although he is convinced that it yet
remained essentially English in occupation and ruling.
However we may regard it, there is further evidence in
another place-name just outside this parish in Lauderdale
which shows a decidedly Danish settlement. This place
is called Lileston. Singularly enough, the two names " Liles-
toun and Uggistoune" are often conjoined in property
deeds at a very early date. " Lileston " is a corruption of
" Ilifstun," the town of " Ylif " or " Olaf," a famous name

* History of the Anglo-Saxons, vol. ii., p. 164. By Sh. Turner,
t Vol. i., Note kk., p. 659.

OXTON 363

in Danish victories of the ninth and tenth centuries. It
was one of that name who in 854 blighted with desolation
East Anglia, and carried his ravages throughout all the
region bordering on the Forth. In such a raid it is not
likely that Lauderdale would be overlooked. In A.D. 941
also, an Olaf was chosen King of Northumbria. He died
after having laid waste and burnt the Church of St
Balthere at Tyningham.* About the end of the twelfth
century we know that one " Ilif or "Ailif" held property
near Oxton, which was heired by his son Roger, and it is
not improbable that this Ylif may have become possessed
of, and given his name to, the place now called Lileston.

Both Roger and his father Ailif or Olaf seem to have
planted their names firmly in the Lileston district, for as
late as 1725 we find on Mole's Map of Lauderdale, Roger-
law and Eylston neighbouring each other. In any case,
the Danish settlers in Upper Lauderdale have place and
name in an unmistakable manner at a very early date,
whether or not they came into it in the ninth, tenth, or
eleventh centuries. Other evidence also exists. (See
" Hartside " account.)

It will also now, perhaps, be admitted that we are some-
what justified in believing that the Norse name Ulfcytel
is the root of all the other designations which have been
given to our village, and that, to the discerning, however
the consonantal bones of it may be crushed and contorted,
it is yet evident throughout the representative catalogue
— Ulfcytelstun, Ulfkillston, Hulfkeliston, Ulkilleston, Uggis-
toune, Huxston, Ugston, and Oxton.

It will also now be apparent how far astray the name has
wandered. How melancholy that the heroic Norse name
* Celtic Scotland^ vol. i., p. 360.

364 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

" Ulfkill " should be turned into an " Ox " ! " To what
base uses we may return, Horatio ! " If the initial " U "
had but been spared !

We shall now try to trace the changes which the village
has seen in bygone days with regard to its proprietors.
Perhaps these may be as interesting as the fortunes or
misfortunes which have overtaken its name. And here
preliminary notice may be taken of the circumstance that
the village was divided in its earlier periods into two sections,
a hint of which is given us in Lord Allan of Galloway's gift
to Kelso Abbey of the five carucates of land mentioned
above. The boundary is spoken of there as passing through
the "south village." This is about 1206 A. D., and as late as
about 1567, or seven years after the Reformation, Kelso
Abbey is said to draw revenue from " Ugstone, Ewer (Over)
and Nether," to the extent of £26, 13s. 4d. *

Coming now to the early proprietors, we may reasonably
regard the Norseman Ulfkill or Ulfcytel to have been its
earliest owner within the historical period, although it is
beyond our knowledge to fix any precise date when first he
lived in the body there, and gave to it his name. Oxton,
however, at the earliest time of its mention in Records, was
more than a village ; it was an estate or territory, and must
have embraced a considerable area of ground between Over
Howden Burn and Mountmill, that is, between one of the
marches of Allan of Galloway's five carucates and the place
which was called Oxton Mill or Mill of Ulfkilston. Oxton
"territory," indeed, seems {cir. 1200) to have included all
the land which at present lies within the bounds which
follow Mountmill Haugh and Burn down to the meeting of
the latter with Kelphope Water at Carfraemill, thence across
* Kelso Register.

OXTON 365

the intervening hills to where Carsemyres stood at the
junction of Over Howden Burn with the highway, up
Over Howden dean to Over Howden, on and over the
moorland lying behind as far as to the burn which passes
Inchkeith Farm and the Farm of Threeburnford. Thence
from Threeburnford, following the Mountmill Burn, down
to Mountmill makes a circle which girdled Oxton
" territory " ; for there are indications that Airhouse
Lands were also included within it. It had also rights,
apparently, in a wider tract of land, which came to be called
Wideopen Common later.

But while the " territory " of Oxton retained these
dimensions, during the reign of Allan of Galloway over
Lauderdale, there is evidence that it was being broken up
into sectional properties. The reason for this is evident.
One strong hand seizes the whole land, then portions it
out on conditions to his followers. These again find it
convenient to do the .same on conditions to others standing
farther away than themselves from the fountain of authority.
We have in Lauderdale, for example, David 1., then from
him Hugh de Morville, then from him his sons, then their
favourites, the Church, and others, aW possessing land.
About 1213-14 A.D. William of Hartside is drawn upon
by Kelso monks to the extent of 8s., which he pays out of
the land which Gillefalyn of Ulkilleston held. This land was
by certain evidence what is now called Heriotshall. More-
over, a croft and toft in the east part of the same village is
given to them by Allan of Galloway, and we are also told
that Roger, son of Ailif, had right to these moneys formerly.
The lion's share of Oxton territory had already gone to
Kelso monks, with an offer also of Oxton Mill which
Dryburgh influence, exerted through some local magnate.

366 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

seems to have been strong enough to prevent their obtain-
ing, and now the names of Aihf or Olaf, Gillefalyn, and
Roger, as representing landed interest in and around Oxton,
point to the initial divisions which ultimately broadened into
Justicehall, Heriotshall, and other places, such as Langsyde,
which have passed away.

The thirteenth century was one which saw great changes
in Scotland, especially towards its close, in the uprising under
Wallace, and the struggle for the Scottish Crown. Balliol, as
representing the Earls of Galloway, received the superiority of
Lauderdale when Earl Allan died in 1234, but little change
seems to have taken place with regard to Oxton village or lands
during the time of turmoil ensuing on Edward's invasions of
Scotland in 1296 and 1298; and the Kelso monks still held
their lion's .share of it at the opening of the Scottish era of in-
dependence. In the Kelso Rent Roll, which, it is shown, must
have been written before 1309, it is stated, " Habent in valle
de Lawedir villa diam de ulkillestun^ q^ sol r'^ der / aii
XX. marc," or, " They have in the valley of Lauderdale half
the village of Oxton, which is wont to return per annum
twenty marks." Regarding the proprietors of the other
half, which may have been either the Over or the Nether
Ugston noticed above, we have no record. The Mill of
Oxton comes under our observation in 1273, when Sir
William de Abirnithy gives the monks of Dryburgh Abbe}'
two marks out of its revenues. Regarding the origin of the
Abernethy interest in Oxton territory, we are left in much
uncertainty. They were anciently connected with the
Macduff's of Fife. Lord Salton hazards the following
explanation. After lamenting the meagre information
available, he says, * " All record of the means by which
* Frazers of Philorth, vol. ii., pp. 28, 29.

OXTON 367

the Abernethies acquired the Estate of Salton in East
Lothian, or of the date at which it came into their possession,
has unfortunately perished. But they appear to have held
it before the time of this Sir Wm. Abernethy, and he
probably obtained, as well as Glencorse (which had be-
longed to his elder brother Hugh), Ulkestone or Uggistone,
in Berwickshire, as his appanage. In the beginning of the
twelfth century Salton was part of the vast estate of the
powerful family of de Morville, and probably the Aber-
nethies were their vassals for it, but in process of time
freed themselves from the superiority of that family, as of
their successors."

In whatever manner the Abernethies came into Upper
Lauderdale, the Mill of Oxton was in 1273 part of their
estate, and perhaps also all the Oxton territory which was
not held by Kelso and Dryburgh Abbey.s, Their name
comes into prominence in connection with this mill in the
years 1220, 1273, and about 1300 and 1380.* During the
thirteenth century their name was notorious enough. The
Sir William Abernethy who gives in 1273 two marks to
Dryburgh monks out of Oxton Mill was the reputed in-
.stigator of the murder of Duncan, Earl of Fyfe, one of
Scotland's guardians during a period when the country
was in crises from Norse invasions, disputed succession,
Papal impositions, Wallace risings, and English tyranny.
But Lord Salton is convinced that Sir Hugh de Abernethy,
Sir William's elder brother, was the real instigator, he being
the head of the house at the time. Both brothers were
probably confined in Douglas Castle, he thinks, although
Douglas in his Peerage, p. 467, mentions Sir William only.
At Potpollock (Pitelloch), in September 1288, Sir Patrick
* Liber de Driburgh, Charters Nos. 237, 175, 291, 292, 312.

368 HISTORY OF CHANNPLLKIRK

Abernethy and Sir Walter Percy murdered the Earl of
Fife, while the astute Sir William, the mover of the plot,
lay in wait to intercept him if he had gone another road.
Sir William and Sir Walter Percy were apprehended ; Sir
William to languish in Douglas Castle till his death, while
Sir Walter suffered execution. This Sir William of Ulkilston
was descended from Sir Patrick, who was the son of Laurence
de Abirnithy, whose father was Orm. Orm is said to have
given his name to Orm-iston, which was probably included
at that time in the Salton estate of the Abernethies. Orm
was descended from Hugh, who flourished in the reign of
Malcolm IV.

There are glimmerings here and there that Lauderdale
magnates were somewhat hopeless of Scotland's resistance
to English aggression, and, like most of the Scottish barons,
were not disinclined to submit. Munderville of Glengelt
and Sinclair of Carfrae seem to have actually submitted,
and Abernethy's murder of Scotland's principal guardian
in the north may have had other aims behind it than mere
private revenge. Lauderdale as a district, indeed, has
always had stronger leanings towards kings than towards
the people, whether the result might be for freedom or
oppression. Sir William certainly swore fealty to Edward.
But, in justice, it must be said that when Wallace's noble
initiative in 1296, and Bruce's final achievement of Inde-
pendence in 1 3 14, made Scotland's position invulnerable,
and when there was no doubt that the people of Scotland
would retain their kingdom intact, then the barons, with
Lauderdale magnates among them, moved forward in 1320
with their solemn address to the Pope, the duplicate of which
may yet be seen in the hall of the Register House, Edin-
burgh, declaring that " so long as there shall but one hundred

OXTON 369

of us remain alive, we will never give consent to subject
ourselves to the dominion of the English." Better late than
never, and we are pleased to see in the list of signatures
those of James Douglas, Lord of Lauderdale, Roger de
Mowbray, who may be the progenitor of the Mowbrays
who held Kirktonhill near the close of the fifteenth century,
Henry St Clair, Carfrae, and William de Abernethy.

It is in the time of King Robert the Bruce that we first
hear of the House of Seton being connected with Channel-
kirk parish. About 1327, Allan de Hertesheued (Hartside)
grants to Sir Alexander Seton, the father, Lord of that
Ilk, a toft and croft and two oxgates of land (26 acres)
in the territory of Ulkiston. The Setons were thus among
the oldest proprietors of land in Upper Lauderdale, and
they soon deepened their worth in it, as a reference to
the account of Hartside will show.

The Setons do not appear to have retained their Oxton
property for any great length of time, and relinquished
it in favour of the Abernethies. Before 146 1, Laurence,
Lord Abernethy, was possessed " as of fee " in the lands of
Lyelstoun and Uxstoun, with their pertinents. On the
30th day of April of that year, an inquest was held at
Lauder before Sir William de Cranstoun of Corsby, Sheriff
Depute of Berwick, by Allan de Lauder, of that Ilk, in
which it is shown that William Abernethy is lawful and
nearest heir to his father Laurence in the lands of Lyelstoun
and Uxtoun.* By the Exchequer Rolls of 146 1, we ascer-
tain that sasine of these properties was granted to the
said William Lyelstoun, is then of yearly value lOOs., and
Uxtoun lands are valued at the same yearly price.

" The said lands are held in chief of the King, giving

* Original Charters, vol. iii., Register House, Edinburgh.

2 A

370 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

annually for Lyelstoun id. of silver at Whitsunday. Uxtoun
is held by ward and relief, giving yearly common suit at
the courts of the said constabulary (Lauderdale), and
said lands are now in the hands of the King, by the death
of the said Laurence and the failure of the true heir to
prosecute his right to the same by the space of twent}'
weeks or thereby, before the date of said inquest." Three
years afterwards, in 1464, King James III. confirms to
him the lands of Rothymay, Redy, Dalgathy, Dalders,
Glencorse, Saltoun, all in different counties, and Lielstoun,
and Ugistoune in Lauderdale.*

At Edinburgh, loth January 1483, the King confirms
all the above lands to Lord William, "which he creates
and incorporates into one free barony of Abirnethy.
James, Lord Abernethy, is served heir to Lord William,
his brother, and enters upon his estates loth October 1488,
when we note among his possessions, Lyelstoun and
Ugstoun." Both are now worth, yearly, 20 merks, and
in time of peace ;^io. In 1492, on the 9th of March,
they pass to Lord James's son and. heir-apparent,
Alexander.

In the same year, 1492, James Abernethy, son of
" George Abernethy of Uggistoune," witnesses a charter
by the Earl of Huntly, and this gives us the individual
owner of Oxton at this date. No doubt he held of his
lordly relatives. On 23rd June 1482, "George of Abirdnethy
of Ugstoune ordains John Baty, burgess of Edinburgh,
and his heirs and assignees, his lawful bailies of all
and sundry his lands of Ugstone, with pertinents, lying in
the bailiary of Lawdyr for twenty-two years." He signs
" Gorg of Abyrnethy vyt myi awn hand." •!•

* Great Seal, f Original Charters, vol. iii.

OXTON 371

On the same day of the same year he acknowledges to
have received from the said John Baty and Isabel his spouse,
the sum of ;^40 Scots (;^3, 6s. 8d. sterling) " of the mail
of the three first years of the tack of his lands of Ugstoun
set to them for 19 years." In four years more John Baty
becomes possessor of Heriotshall, as we ascertain from
the following : — " loth Nov. i486. — Charter whereby George
Abernethy, lord of certain lands of Ugstoun, sells to John
Baty, burgess of Edinburgh, those two husband lands with
the pertinents, lying in the town and territory of Ugstoun
and sheriffdom of Berwick, then occupied and possessed
at rent by John Wod : To be holden de me for payment
of id. Scots yearly at Pentecost on the ground of the said
lands in name of blench-farm, if asked only. At Edin-
burgh, loth Nov. i486." This George Abernethy of
Uggistoune comes into prominence in another way in
1 49 1, the year probably of his death. On the 9th of
February of that year, the lords decree * " that James
Sinclare, and Christian of Cockburn his spouse, sail freith,
releif, and keep scathless George Abernethy of Oxtoune,
at the hands of Gilbert Fordice, of the payment of fifteen
pounds, usual money of Scots, of the rest of a mare (more)
soume aucht be him as borgh for the said Christian, to
be paid Gilbert for the marriage completit between the
said Gilbert and Margaret Abernethy, the dochter of the
said Christian, becais they feilzeit in their preif the time
assignit to them, and ordains that lettres be written to
distress the saidis James and Christian their landis and
gudes for the said soume of fifteen pounds, and mak the
said George Abernethy be content, and pait fred thereof"

There is documentary evidence that the Abernethy
* Acta Doininontm Auditorum,

372 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

name was linked with the lands of Oxton through the
years 1527, 1528, 1531, and 1557, for the Sheriff of Banff
accounts on these dates for the rents of the Abernethy
estates, and £2, 6s. 8d. — the same sum John Baty pays in
1482 — had been received from the " firmis terrarum de
Ugstoun " in Lauderdale.*

George, Lord Salton, has sasine of the lands of Lielston
and Wgstoun as " son and air to umquhile Alexander,
Lord Salton, his father, conforme to a precept of the
Chancelrie, ist June i587."f The change from the name
Abernethy to that of Salton is explained by the fact that
William, second son of Sir Patrick de Abernethy, became
first Lord Salton. Alexander, ninth Lord Abernethy of
Salton, sold the Salton estates to Sir Andrew Fletcher in
1643. He died without issue, 1669, and his title devolved
on the heir of line, Sir Alexander Frazer of Philorth.J

While these great names are so prominent at this
period in the history of Oxton, we are not to suppose
that as individuals their fortunes reflected much of the
actual life of the sequestered and remote village by the
river Leader. But the village life was very real all the
same, and a short peep into it is given us by an excerpt
from the " Privy Council," which we quote : —

"1580. — Mr Johnne Knox, minister at Lauder, was
assaultit bet. Cowdoun and Dalkeith by David Douglas
in Oxton, with ane drawn quhingear, for refusing baptism
to a child born in fornication." §

It is just possible that this " Oxton " may be the place
given in Pont's map as being near the Braid Hills — Buck-
stone, now, we believe — but the " minister at Lauder "

* Exchequer Rolls, Appendix. f Acts of Parliament, vii., p. 154.

I Frazers of Philorih. § Privy Council, vol. iii., p. 290.

OXTON 373

points to the refusal having been given in Lauderdale.
The village, no doubt, had its scandals in those days as
well as now. Channelkirk had no minister at this time.

It must not be forgotten that we have hitherto been
dealing with that part of Oxton territory which was separ-
ated from the other part held in gift by the Kelso Abbey,
who held of Lord Allan of Galway. This part was quite
distinct from the possessions of the Abernethies, Setons,
and William of Colilaw, and passed under the title of
Kelso Abbey lands, as late, it seems, as 1646.* These
Kelso lands were Over and Nether Howden, which embraced
within their area the more modern farms of Burnfoot, Carse-
myres, and perhaps Wiselawmill, Oxton Shotts, and prob-
ably some acres nearer Oxton which are not so clearly
distinguishable. They naturally fall to be treated in the
notices of Over Howden and Nether Howden.

In 1610 the town and territory of Ugston once more
changed owners. Before 1605, Lord Salton, for reasons
known to himself, found the accumulation of his misfortunes
too heavy for the stability of his estates, and instead of
judiciously seeking remedies, he rashly contracted more
liabilities, until between the years 1609 ^^^ 1612 he was
compelled to lighten ship in order to weather the storm,
by parting with some of his properties. Of all the lands
he sacrificed we are interested in Ugston and Lialston
only. On 24th July i6io,t the king confirms the charter
of John, Lord Salton, in which he sells to William
Home of Harnycleuch, servitor to Alexander, Earl of
Home, Lord Jedburgh and Dunglass, the town and lands
of Ugstoun, with the pendicle called Luckenhaugh, with
the exception of rights, should there be any, made by
* Great Seal. t /Hi/.

374 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

Lord Salton's predecessors to the late (Jas. ?) Heriot.
William Home also obtains that part of Ugstoune "now-
occupied and tenanted by William Heard and John
Caldcleuch," 22nd December 1609. This property is
known always as the Forty-shilling lands of Ugstone.
In the Appendix to Dryburgh Register it is mentioned at
various periods between 1535 and 1580 as paying forty
shillings to Dryburgh Abbey. John Caldcleuch is first
mentioned as paying forty , shillings for the " fewe lands
of Ugstoun" about 1580. But about 1620 he only pays
four capones. In 1630 we find John before the sub-
commissioners of Earlston Presbytery giving evidence re-
garding the teinds of Channelkirk parish. He is said to
be then sixty years of age or thereby, and resides in
Braedistie. This may have been the old name of the
property known now as Ugston Mains.

It is with a certain sentimental regret that we have
to record here the separation of Ugston from Lyleston,
twin places which held together from the beginning, at
least, of the twelfth century. They are linked originally in
the Norse nationality of their owners, Ulfkill and Olaf;
they journey together as possessions for five hundred
years, and are then sundered in the rending of Lord
Salton's fortunes. In 161 2 Lyalstone is found in the
hands of Lord Cranston ; the Countess of Glencairn has
it in 1 6 14.* She gives it to her son, James Preston of
Craigmillar, in 1624, and from Robert Preston of Preston
and Craigmillar, John, Earl of Lauderdale, obtains it in
1630. We observe, in passing, that " Rogerslaw " is said
to be "in Lyalstone" in 1362, and it will be remembered
that Roger is said to be the son of Ailif or Olaf, from

* Great Seal.

OXTON 375

whom Lyalstone obtained its name, and it is probable
that " Rogerslaw " was named after the son who would
inherit his father's estate in that place. Both names are
Norse.

It must have been some time prior to the breaking up
of Lord Salton's estates that the Heriots of Trabroun
found possession in Channelkirk. Their connection with
Ugston begins about 1610. They appear to be relatives
of the same family which gave the scholarly George
Buchanan his mother, and which found an honourable
homeland in Gladsmuir parish, * and gave to Edinburgh
the celebrated George Heriot, who founded Heriot's
Hospital there. Their memory is yet retained in Channel-
kirk parish by the farm now called Hen'o/shaW. In the
same way that the Abernethies were strengthened in
Lauderdale through their marriage connections with the
more powerful House of Douglas and Angus, so the
Heriot family seems to have entrenched itself within the
walls of the rising House of Maitland. The relationship
of the Heriots with the Maitlands appears to have been
consummated in a contract of marriage in 1560, the
memorable year of the Reformation. James Heriot was
proprietor of Airhouse in Channelkirk sometime before
this year, and perhaps had received his interest in it in
succession to David Hoppringle of Smailholm. And ac-
cordingly in 1586-7, on the 20th January, -j- the King con-
firms the charter of the late James Heriot of Trabroun,
Lauderdale, whereby he sells Airhouse, in liferent, to
Isabella Maitland, who is contracted in marriage to James
Heriot, jun., son and heir-apparent of the above James
Heriot, who had, as we learn elsewhere, in 1558 married
* Earls of Haddington^ vol. i., p. 34, note. t Great Seal.

376 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

his daughter Elizabeth to Thomas, first Earl of Haddington.*
The Heriots seem to have been early established in Lauder-
dale, as one James Heriot is mentioned in Lauder deeds in
141 8, and no doubt was a progenitor of the above Jameses.
There is a John Heriot, vicar of Soutra, in 1467. By the
time we reach the year 16 10 it is a Thomas Heriot who
dies then possessed of Airhouse estate, and leaves it to
his heiress and grand-daughter^ Janet Heriot. Sometime
before this he seems to have acquired property in Ugston,
for she is also served heiress to her grandfather in " the
two merk lands of Ugston, commonly called Pickilraw, in
the village and territory of Ugstoun." She holds Pickil-
raw for twelve years, when William Home, who in 1610
obtained the *' Forty-shilling lands of Ugston," takes into his
sole right, 15th February 1622, from the King, the village and
the lands of Ugston, the pendicle of these called Luikin-
hauch, the two merk lands of Pikilraw, "which were oc-
cupied by the late George Fyfife." He also obtains the
Templar Lands of Ugston.

As Ugston Templar Lands are frequently mentioned
after this date, perhaps we may be allowed to interpolate
a few digressive sentences here, explanatory of Templar
lands in general. " The Templar Lands of Chingilkirk "
are mentioned as early as 1588! as being in the hands
of James Cranstoun, son of Robert Cranstoun of Faluod-
scheills, but further light upon either these or those
Templar lands of Oxton does not appear to be procurable,
and the origin and previous record of both seem to be
enshrouded in the impenetrable darkness which has en-
veloped so much else that refers to Templar history. We
take the following extracts from a paper read before

* Earls of Haddington^ vol. i., p. 18. f Great Seal.

OXTON 377

Hawick Archaeological Society in 1887 by Mr Nenion
Elliot, Teind Office, Edinburgh, which puts the matter as
clearly and as satisfactorily as it is possible, perhaps, to
have it : —

" The Templars came into Scotland in the reign of King David the
First, who reigned from 1124 to 11 53, and became so prosperous that
there were few parishes wherein they had not some lands or houses. It
may be here mentioned that the principal residence of the Knights
Templars in Scotland was at Temple, near Gorebridge, Edinburgh, while
that of the Hospitallers or Knights of St John, who also came into
Scotland in David's reign, was at Torphichen, near Bathgate. Temple
was founded by King David himself. The village of Temple is one of
the oldest in Scotland, and still retains the name of Temple, as does also
the parish in which the village is situated. This establishment was
originally called Balantradock, and described in ancient documents as
domus teinpli de Balantradock (now Arniston).

"In the year 1563 Queen Mary granted to James Sandilands, Lord
St John, the last head of the Order of the Knights of St John or
Hospitallers, a charter of certain baronies and of all the Temple land
which had belonged to the Preceptors of Torphichen as the head of the
Kjnights of St John. This grant by Queen Mary to Lord St John did
not include all the lands in Scotland which had at any time previously
belonged to the Knights Templars, some of these having been alienated
to other parties before the suppression of the Order, and others during
the time they were held by the Preceptors of Torphichen. By this
charter the whole of the subjects conveyed were erected into one great
barony, to be called the barony of Torphichen, at the manor-place of
which, according to the old practice, Sasine was to be taken.

"On 9th July 1606 an Act of Parliament was obtained ratifying a
contract made betwixt James Sandilands of Calder, Lord Torphichen, on
the one part, and Mr Robert Williamson, Writer, and James Tennant of
Lynehouse, on the other part, by which Lord Torphichen (in 1599) sold to
them All and Sundry Temple lands and tenements pertaining to the said
Lord Torphichen, either in property or tenandry, wherever situated, with
certain specified exceptions.

"On 4th December 1607 Lord Torphichen granted a charter in
favour of Williamson, in terms of the above Act of Parliament, but ex-
cepting from it certain lands in the counties of Edinburgh, Linlithgow,
Lanark, and others. Sasine followed in favour of Williamson, and this
title was confirmed by the Crown.

"The preceding narrative indicates generally what became of the

378 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

Templar property situated in Scotland. In one of the writs mentioned
in the lawsuit, certain Temple lands are said to be within the counties of
Fife, Kinross, Clackmannan, Perth, Forfar, Kincardine, Banfif, Nairne,
Inverness, Elgin, Ross, Cromarty, Sutherland, Caithness, and Orkney.
Another writ includes lands in Roxburgh, Selkirk, Kirkcudbright, Stirling,
Dumbarton, Lanark, Aberdeen, Edinburgh, LinHthgow, Peebles, Wig-
town, Renfrew, Dumfries, Berwick, and Ayr, and the Stewartry of
Kirkcudbright. These serve to show that the estates were scattered
over the whole country."

?
There is little doubt that the leading men in Lauder-
dale from the earliest period had a close relationship to
the interests of the Templars. In June 25, 1213, at
Rutland, " Helen de Morville, daughter of Richard de
Morville, was attached to show why she kept not the fine
made in the King's Court by chirograph, between her
said father and the master of the soldiery of the Temple,
regarding 123 acres of land in Wissindene." * We also
learn that the brethren had charters from Allan de
Morville (Galloway), son and heir of Helena, to the same
effect. Reference is also made in the extracts given
above to James Tennent of Lynehouse, who received part
of the Temple lands belonging to Lord Torphichen in
^ 599- There is a probability that this Tennent was related
to the John Tennent, who in 1539 received a grant of Over
and Nether Howden from King James V. This John
Tennent was said to be "of Listonschiels." And in
Torphichen Chartulary James Tennent is mentioned as
" receiving a gift of escheat of all goods belonging to
Robert Adamson of Listonschieles. Edinburgh, i ith January
1 597-" That is, they reverted to him. He was probably
John's son, and enjoyed once more the paternal heritage.
The rest of the history of these " Tempellandis " is

* Original Charters in Register House.

OXTON 379

soon told. James Tennent sold his moiety of them to
the Robert Williamson above mentioned, and Williamson
obtained a charter disjoining his purchase from the
Barony of Torphichen, and erecting it into the " Tenandry
of the Temple Lands." Williamson then sold the
" Tenandry " to Lord Binning, afterwards Earl of Melrose
and Haddington, who got these Temple lands erected into
the Barony of Drem.

The Barony of Drem went to the Hon. John Hamilton,
Advocate, who left no son. Robert Hill, Esq., acquired it,
and the greater portion of it, up to the year 1845, belonged
to John Black Gracie, Esq., W.S. *

There is no mention of the Temple lands in Channel-
kirk, either those of " Chingilkirk " or of " Ugston," in the
Berwickshire list in the Register House, or in the Tor-
phichen Chartulary, and they must have been overlooked,
for their existence is undoubted, and the references to
them in the Great Seal and the Sasines are very frequent.
They must have been long in the hands of the Saltons,
and, no doubt, in those of the Abernethies before them.i*

The Homes were at one time so powerful in other
parts of Berwickshire, and so numerous, that we are not
surprised to find their progeny flowing over into Lauder-
dale, and even into such remote corners of it as Hernie-
cleuch. William Home, who added Oxton in 1622 to his
other lands in this district, was married to Isobella Frazer,
who may also have been a member of the Abernethy-
Salton-Frazer family so conspicuous at the same period. J
Contemporaneous with the Homes of Ugston there was a

♦ See Maidment's Account in the Spottiswoode Miscellany , vol. ii.,
pp. 20-32.

t Great Seal, 5th February 1644. % Ibid,

380 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

John Home in Over Shielfield, Lord Home of Polwarth
held Headshaw, and half a century later a Home was
ordained to the church and parish as minister, and was
proprietor of Kelphope. For nearly two centuries the
name of Home was a prominent one in this parish.

We have no means of knowing the exact date of
William Home's death. On 2nd August 1622 he and
his son John produce their sasine of the Forty-shilling
lands of Ugston ; on 7th Jan. 1623, he, his wife Isabella
Fraser, and son John, the sasine also of the village and
pendicles held of King James. John (or James, by one
authority) hands them over to Abraham Home * of Home
and Kennetsydheid, and to his wife Anna Home, on 3rd
February 1640 ; who both in turn assign them to James
Cheyne, W.S., Edinburgh, on ist February 1643. The Forty-
shilling lands, and perhaps all Ugston, had meanwhile been
taken over about 1630 by Walter Riddel of the Haining,
Selkirkshire. Dryburgh Abbey claims from him, then, on
account of the Forty-shilling land, 35s. 5d., and in 1634,
43s. 4d., six poultry, and . . . . " capounis." f As late as
1664, Alex. Home, son to Wm. Home, draws an annual
rent furth of Oxton.

But in 1644 the whole lands of Ugstoun — village ;
pendicles ; mill ; Forty-shilling land " sometime pertaining
to the Dryburgh Monastery, and which the Earl of Mar
and Lord Cardross, his son, held for a time " ; and the
Temple lands, " sometime held by John, Lord Salton " — all
came into Cheyne's possession together. | He pays a yearly

* Sasines and Great Seal. f Liber de Dryburgh^ p. 378.

\ In the Decreet of Locality of Channelkirk^ June 30th, 1827, it is said,
p. 241, that "James Skeyne " had the lands of Ugston in July 1632.
This is, no doubt, the same person designated James Cheyne, but it is not
so clear that he held Ugston at that date.

OXTON 381

return for the Temple lands of 3s. 46., and 2s. of aug-
mentation ; and for his Forty-shilling land, the same as
Walter Riddell in 1634, and for the other lands "customary
rights and services."

We are tempted to pause a little here on the character
of this James Cheyne, and append a few notes illustrative
of his career in Edinburgh. When our account is so much
engaged with mere property and its dues, a biographical
variation may be, perhaps, all the more welcome.

His father, it seems, was Walter Cheyne of Tillibui,* who
apprenticed his promising son to Robert Pringle. He it is
who writes, about 1638, a charter by John, Archbishop
Spottiswoode, St Andrews, confirming the lands of the late
Lord Borthwick to Thomas Dalmahoy. He appears as
"witne.ss" in 1653, and as "notary" 26th June i654.-f- In
due time James blossomed out into a W.S., about two years
previous to his becoming possessor of Oxton lands and
village. It does not appear, however, that he always kept
the law which he professed to know so well, and had sharp
and irascible ways. On i6th March 1659, "Mr James
Cheyne and Mr David Watsoun compeared to answer to
a charge of ' minassing ' one another," They confessed to
" discord betwixt them in William Dounie's chamber ! "
" Filling up a blank paper " was the casus belli. The case
could not be settled at once, however, as the Commissioners
" could not sitt any longer by reason of their uther urgent
efifeirs." But the scales of justice weighed out in a few
days, " for the discord aforementioned," ;^20 each of a fine
to " the box," and suspension till it should be paid. James
sniffs at the whole concern, and does not deign to compear.
Next month, on 5th April, the fine is modified to. 20 merks
* History of Writers to the Signet. t Calendar of Laing Charters.

382 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

to be paid betwixt them. James is then graciously " re-ad-
mitted," to all appearance, although the minute of it is
not given. We hear no more of him till four years after-
wards, when he is found, in 1663, complaining that Robert
Alexander dares to act as a W.S., notwithstanding that he
was " at the horn " — no joke in those days — " and unrelaxed
' for this many years.' " Robert has " other faults," too,
which have not escaped the sharp eye of Mr Cheyne. But
when Robert Alexander, W.S., compears, subsequently, to
answer the bill of complaint given in by Mr James Che}'ne,
the latter does not attend, and again proudly sniffs at the
whole affair. Mr James, by-and-by, is the culprit himself,
" for writing a bill and letters of horning," etc. James denies
subscribing the letters, but seems, notwithstanding, to have
written them. After due trial the letters are found to be
" unformall " ; but he still persists that he never subscribed
them. On 30th January 1671 he is suspended a second
time " for subscribing letters to unfreemen," and James Allan
gets a warrant to subscribe letters for him during the time
of his suspension. The professional atmosphere was growing
black around him, and out in remote Oxton, long before
this, property matters were no brighter. All through the
year 1671 his star seems to have shone through clouds, even
though he was " reponed " in February, for on 1 8th November
1672 " Mr James Cheyne being complained upon for writing
letters to the Signet for agents and unfreemen, his letters
are ordered to be stopped until he " make his appearance "
to answer for his transgressions. Ten years go past, but he
does not seem to have improved. On 6th November 1682
" the treasurer is ordained to ' settle Mr James Cheyne in
some honest house quhair he may be alimented, and this
without delay,'" 27th April 1683 — "Approbation is given

OXTON 383

to the treasurer for the sums paid to him to . . . Mr James
Cheyne. , . ." The Commissioners, considering that Mr James
Cheyne is in the exercise of his office till Whitsunday, find
that till that time he ought to have no allowance from the
box as pension, yet the treasurer is allowed " to give him
in smalls two dollars betwixt and Whitsunday." 7th May
1683 — Mr James Cheyne is allowed ;^ioo yearly, in quarterly
payments, " in case he goe off the citty and forbear the
exercise of his calling." On the 15th June of same year
he is due ;iC20 to a Mrs Currie, cook, which the treasurer
pays " off the first end of his pension." The treasurer also
is appointed to speak with Mr Duncan Forbes, the under-
clerk, to know on what terms Lamertoun's bond in his hand
is granted to Mr James Cheyne. And the last view we
have of him before he sinks beneath the waves of oblivion
is in keeping with all the rest. 20th October 1684 — "Mr
James Cheyne having drawn a bill on the treasurer for
^6, payable to John Sandilands on order, the treasurer is
authorised to pay it, although there was not so much due
of his allowance. The treasurer is recommended to advise
him to draw no more till it be due ! " A man of furious
life evidently, and clearly indebted to kind friends, whose
names are not revealed, for being kept from utter prodigality
and di.ssoluteness. Thirty-one years before this last sinister
notice of him in 1684, viz., in 1653, we find that his Oxton
property was not large enough to supply his exchequer, and
had to be bonded. He had held it nine years at that date.
He then wadsets it to John Home of Aitoun and Hutton,
and his second wife, " in an annual rent of 300 merks Scots
yearly, to be uplifted from the Ugston lands, mill, and mill
lands." Sasinc of the same is granted to his son and heir,
Alexander Home, in 1664, by precept of clare constat from

384 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

James Achiesone of Howdoun, hereditary proprietor of the
lands of Ugstoun, mill, and mill lands thereof" *

James Achiesone was not a newcomer to Channelkirk
parish when he got the lands of Ugston, for he had been
established in Nether Howden "in fee" in 1647. His father,
John Achieson, advocate, held the same property in liferent
at the same time, although the Channelkirk Locality -j- dates
it at 1632. A doubtful statement. The Achieson (or Aitchi-
son) family, who may have descended from the Achiesons of
Edinburgh, so long connected with the Mint, kept long their
connection with Nether Howden, although in January 1681
we find that John Ker gets sasine of the lands of Ugston
and Ugston mill (Mountmill).|

The Kers, so famous in Border story, long held most of
the teinds of Channelkirk parish. In 163 1 the Kers of
Morriston are said to own the " two husband lands of
Ugston." § These are now called Heriotshall. The Kers
held them throughout the greater part of the seven-
teenth century. In 1687, 13th January, John Ker of
Moristoun, || heir of Andrew Ker, his brother, who was in
1676 served heir to Mark Ker of Moristoun, his father,
enters into possession of the "two husband lands of Ugstoun"
(Heriotshall). He also held at this time Collielaw and
Bowerhouses, as also half of the teinds of almost the whole
parish, bequeathed to him from his ancestors. These, we
need not say, were only part of great possessions which
the house of Moriston, now so humble, then held in Lauder-
dale and throughout Berwickshire.

At the beginning of the seventeenth century the lands of
Oxton appear to have become separated into several distinct

* Calendar of Laing Charters, No. 2587. t Pp. 237-41.

+ Sasines. § Locality, p. 243. || Retours.

OXTON 385

properties, each having its special designation. In various
deeds and charters these figure as Pickleraw ; LuckenJiaugh ;
Ugston Mains ; Temple Lands ; the Two Husband Lands ;
and Forty-shilling Lands. Over Howden and Nether
Howden, which originally were included in the " barony "
or " territory " of Ugston, were quite distinct from all
these.

Pickleraw has a descendant surviving among us to-day
which is called Pickieston, an abbreviation of Pickleston or
Picklestoun. Pickleraw was originally known as the " Two
Merk Land of Ugston."* Luckenhaugh (Look-in-Haugh) has
also its surviving relative to-day in the " Luckencrofts " field
near Oxton Cross, now included in Nether Howden Farm.
Ugston Mains is yet a fine flourishing farm of lOO acres, and
seems to have been the " Forty-shilling Lands of Ugston."
Forty-shilling Land was Three Merk Land in the East of
Scotland,"!" and it appears that Oxton Mains answers more
to the size of the " Forty-shilling Land " of the past than
any other piece of ground known to us in Oxton vicinity.
The " Temple Land " does not seem to have been defined
at any time, and is always spoken of as " lying among the
lands of Ugston." Perhaps Heriotshall and Ugston Mains
may have swallowed it between them, seeing that all three
appear to have been contiguous to each other, Heriotshall
is now 1 3 acres, or an oxgang (that is, half a husband land),
larger than its original size of two husband lands, and
Ugston Mains is 22 acres larger than its original dimensions.
From both we get 35 acres, or in old measurement nearly
three oxgangs ; and these three oxgangs may probably have
been the original Temple Lands of Ugston. The " Two

* Great Seal, 1622 A.D. ; Sasines.
t Celtic Scotland, vol. iii., p. 226.

2 B

386 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

Husband Lands of Ugston" were Heriotshall, which obtained
this latter designation from the Heriots of Airhouse about
the beginning of the seventeenth century.

When, or from whom, the Somervilles may have obtained
Heriotshall we are not quite clear, but it was no doubt
purchased from the Kers of Morriston, and it must have
been at some considerable time prior to 1727. We know
that John Murray of Ouplaw (Uplaw, or Wooplaw), on
the 2nd September of that year, had that property con-
veyed to him from Alexander Somerville, mariner in
Chatham, the son of Alexander Somerville, writer in Edin-
burgh, then deceased, who was the eldest son of the
deceased George Somerville and Alison Bathgate of Heriots-
hall*

In 1742 Oxton Mains belongs to James Somerville of
Airhouse,! John Murray still holds Heriotshall, and Lucken-
haugh, or Justicehall, is the property of James Justice,
"one of the Principal Clerks of Session." These had been
disponed to Mr Justice by Thomas Mathie, 15th June
1 739-+ This brings Oxton lands clearly under one view,
although they have now got divided among different
owners.

The lands of Ugston having thus distinct bounds and
separate appellations, viz., Heriotshall, Justicehall, Ugston
Mains, not to mention Over Howden and Nether Howden,
these may perhaps be more conveniently treated under
their different designations, to which the reader is there-
fore now referred.

There is, however, one property that calls for mention
here and which was closely associated from time immemorial

* Acis and Decreets^ vol. 597 ; Mack,
t Kirk Records, % Locality, p. 168.

OXTON 387

with the existence of Oxton, and as a burning interest in
it was evoked twenty years after the time (1742) which
we have last recorded, it may appropriately be discussed
in this place. We refer to the Common called "Wide-
open."

Before the days of modern land-hunger, "commons"
were prevalent over all the country. But, as may be con-
ceived where every one had rights, and where all could claim
liberty to pasture cows or whatever stock they chose, the
burden upon such common spaces would become very great,
and, in individual cases, the abuse of greedily putting so
many cattle on them would be too apparent to escape the
reprobation of the general community. These troubles,
therefore, rose on many occasions, and the common benefit
soon became a common nuisance, and lawsuits were frequent
anent the quarrels that ensued. The thirty-eighth Act of
the Scottish Parliament of the year 1695* dealt with these
" commons," and power was given whereby such commonties
might be divided at the instance of those whose properties
and rights were involved in them. This facility was taken
advantage of in the case of " Wideopen " by Robert Scott,
Esq. of Trabrown, " late of Madeira, now of London," in
a process at his instance against the Earl of Lauderdale
and others interested in it, which, begun in 1762, did not
quite close till 1769. Difficulties had arisen on every side,
and " Wideopen " being contiguous to the properties of
three parishes, many jealousies were stirred, and evidently
Mr Scott had determined to bring the whole matter to
something like a clear understanding on a legal basis, and
have the disputes allayed for all time coming. He raised
the case to have the commonty divided and parcelled out
* Acts and Decreets^ vol. 597 ; Mack. Register House.

388 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

among the various proprietors who had the right to pasture
cattle on it. These were : —

1. Earl of Lauderdale, for Whitelaw,

2. Adam Fairholm, banker, Edinburgh, for Pilmuir barony, which

included Upper Sheilfield, Pilmuir, Blackchester, Midburn,
Haverlaw or Halkeslaw, Wiselaw-mill, etc.

3. Sir John Paterson of Eccles, for Kittyflat.

4. Miss Christian Hunter, for Nether Howden.

5. Robert Scott of Trabrown, pursuer, for part of Trabrown barony,

with the New Mill.

6. John Christie of Baberton, for Meikle Catpair.

7. James Justice of Justicehall, for the lands of Ugston, Over Howden,

and Upper and Nether Carsemyres.

8. James Murray of Uplaw, for Heriotshall in Ugston.

9. John Thomson, for Nether Bowerhouse.

10. James Somervell, for Arras (Airhouse) and Ugston Mains.

11. James Watherston, for the lands of Haugh.

12. Alison Watherston, widow of Wm. Cuthbertson, portioner of

Trabrown, and Cuthbertson in Trabrown, for their re-
spective interests of liferent and fee, for parts of the lands of
Trabrown.

13. Janet, Isabel, and Margaret Watherstons, children of James

Watherston, deceased, portioner in Trabrown, and Janet
Watherston, his widow, for part of Trabrown lands.

14. John Watherston, for acres in Trabrown belonging to his father,

Simon Watherston of Netherfield, deceased.

15. James Watherston, for Netherfield or House-in-the-Muir.

16. Thomas Murray, baxter in Edinburgh, for Mitchelson and

Gilmerton.

17. John Cuming-Ramsay, for Threebumford.

18. George Thomson, Lasswade, for Bumhouse.

19. George Addiston of Carcant, for Colielaw.

20. James Hog, for Longmuir lands.

In the valuation of Wideopen Common, taken in June
1762, the following places are mentioned as lying on its
boundary line : — Gilmerton, Cokim, Gilmerton Moor, How-
bogs, Kameknow, Know-canny, The Burn, How-slack,
Rowantree-law, Longmoor-burnfoot, The Fluther, Gorieford,

OXTON 389

Threeburnford, Arras-burn, The Slack, Meikle Dodhill,
Turnercleuch, Fairnedoup, Howdenhill, Hemphillhouse,
The Dod, Hiseldean, Birniehill, The Kairn, Pate's hag,
Tathlaw-know, Ugston, Edinburgh Road, Hairlaw, Broad-
bog. The Dass, Wardlaw Moor, Turnerford, Graysbarns,
Rashie-cleuch, Kippit-hill, Wideope-green, North Grain,
Pilmuir Road, Litler Kairn, Willie-Struther-bog, The
Tongue, Falside-road, Sandvvell-syke, Meikler Kairn,
Middle Rig, Long-slack, Inchkeith, Trabrown Road, Black-
chester-lair, Mitchelston Road, Weatherlaw, Horse-bog,
Frekles, Deanburn-brae.

These give a general idea of its great extent, and of the
importance attached to it. But the confusion that was likely
to arise becomes evident when over such an area "each
of these tenements and possessors of the same have an
universal right over the whole common," " which right they
have been in use to exercise at pleasure, by pasturing
what number and kinds of cattle they thought proper,"
" without restr ion or limitation, or being any way con-
fined as to place of pasturing, or the number, quantity, or
kinds of beasts " ; " they also cast and win peats in the moss,
cast turf, feal, and divot in the muirs at pleasure, without
the least restraint or restriction." In short, the common,
from originally being a place of common benefit, became
an object of common plunder, and great heartburning
as usual was generated throughout the three parishes.
Mr Dalziell, Hartside, "quarrelled" Mr Cumming's rights
and titles with reference to Threeburnford, and an Archibald
Smith, who once lived at Collielaw, "one morning, when
he came in from the common, where he had gone about
sun-rising, told that William Murray's "herd" had his
sheep of Easter-town in the common, and he, Archibald

390 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

Smith, had turned the sheep off the common, and told
the herd (shepherd) if ever he brought them there again
he, Archibald Smith, would put them into the house ; and
further, he went along with William Murray's sheep till
they were quite off the common, where William Murray
met him, and they had a long dispute about the matter."
These were the days when the hillsides and even the fields
were entirely free from fences, and the innocent sheep
might stray far and wide, and crop any spot they might
deem sweetest. With what result we see, in growling
Dalziels and threatening Archibald Smiths !

The case was contested sharply, and many adjustments
and re-adjustments were proposed and pleaded. Finally
the Commissioners advised, and the Lords of Council and
Session approved, that the common be divided among the
.several parties having interest therein "in proportion to
their respective valued rents, quantity and quality con-
sidered." They therefore found " that the whole surface
of the said common is exhausted," and eighty separate
sections on a plan showed the various plots in colours into
which it was divided. The case came up first before
Lord Barjarg on 25th February 1762, and the division
was to take effect on Whitsunday 1764. But there were
several discontents who petitioned against the arrangements,
and the case was remitted to Lord Barjarg once more for
the purpose of calling and hearing parties. George Somer-
ville, Airhouse, and James Murray, Heriotshall, were
defenders among others. It was alleged that the division
as allocated would not meet their wants with regard to
other properties. Walker's Croft in Oxton, for example,
was shown to be isolated, and many other murmurs were
bruited, but the Commissioners, after repairing to the

OXTON 391

common personally, and examining it all over de novo,
found it impossible to make any alteration.

There was one important provision made, viz., that
" the loans, highways, and roads be left open through the
common for common passage and travelling as formerly T *

It strikes one as strange that the common, which is
called by the name of Oxton in several charters, should not
have had retained within it somewhere some privileges for
Oxton villagers. No doubt, at a very early date, such
advantages would exist. It seems reasonable to think so.
But indifference to their own rights, perhaps, and possibly
the encroachments of surrounding " territories," " baronies,"
and " estates " of various denominations, quietly, in course
of time may have dispossessed them ; and when the land
came to be allotted, Oxton inhabitants would have no
claim in law. Airhouse, Justicehall, and Heriotshall
properties must be responsible for this, or perhaps the
" lapsing " took place at an earlier time than when
these divisions became definitive.

In this condensed and necessarily formal account of the
village we regret that we have been unable to say more
regarding the people who have lived and died in it, and
given it continuity of existence during so many hundred
years. So far as we have been able to discern, no one
of any remarkable name has risen from that ground.
There arc, of course, many references to Oxton people in
the Kirk Records and other sources, but these are chiefly
in connection with matters peculiar to such documents, and
do not flatter any one in particular. The poor, the
Sabbath-breaker, the misfortunate, the frail, — each has his
or her special niche in that " Temple of Fame " ; but this is
* Acts and Decreets, 597, p. 148.

392 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

a distinction which is shared by the same classes in a
similar manner in almost every village and parish in the
land. Lower down than the Kirk Records, in the realm
of hearsay and tradition, we encounter weird and harrow-
ing accounts of men and things which it may be charitable
to forget. Beyond these sources all is silent, and the
notables of Oxton, if there were ever any such, must
remain unchronicled as well as unsung. We are not
greatly surprised at this paucity of talent. Rarely have
villages situated so far from the stimulating influences of
life as Oxton is, produced full-grown greatness, or great-
ness remarkable in any sense. There is a necessary
debility and enervation in village environment which acts
upon human nature like the stone above the blade of
grass. The seed is there planted, but it is in a pot ;
the bird is nurtured in a cage. There is a lack of
stimulus and expansion, and the "noble rage" is repressed
and the "genial currents of the soul" frozen. If the
villager rises above the level of the village, he must seek
his leverage outside of it. For it is not true that a man
endowed with talents or genius will in any circumstances
or place make his mark. A too hard shell will kill the
chick, let the egg be of the noblest.

So far as we have been able to estimate village character
as it grows in Oxton, we do not think it differs in any
respect from other villages of a like size and with similar
disadvantages. Human life flows on its ordinary course
between sunrises and sunsets, with but little variation from
year to year. There are births, joyful or sad ; there are
marriages, happy or miserable ; there are deaths, lingering or
sudden. The three piers, Eat, Sleep, Work, carry the span of
existence from the cradle to the grave. In the interstices and

OXTON 393

intervening spaces are packed the ordinary brick and rubble
of the threescore years and ten. There is the usual quantum
of interest in each other's affairs ; the usual hopes and fears
of the term day ; now and then a dispute must be quieted in
the Sheriff's court-room, which for a time creates vicious
manners between the litigants and the rest of the inhabitants,
who invariably take sides in the contest ; a political election,
a school examination, a concert, a ball, a runaway horse,
or such like, sends thrills more or less shocking through the
body social which lies between the two " toon ends." Work
is far from exacting, and as each is, as a rule, alone in his
shop or workroom, he has the regulation of his rate of labour
in his own hands. But although the work may be done with
many restings, it is seldom altogether shirked for indulgences
of a questionable nature. Few if any of the villagers throw
down their work in a fit of wantonness to take up tankards
and glasses in bibulous bouts during the day. Oxton is a
village freer from cases of inebriation than any the writer has
ever known. Sobriety, indeed, is characteristic of the whole
parish. This does not mean, however, that it is totally free
from vice. It has a bad reputation for certain forms of sin.
We cannot place its moral tone very high, although it has
its due share of true Christian worth. There are " wantons,"
and lapsers from church and school ; and too many " cases "
which have to stand rebuke in the Kirk-Session.

Apart from these defections of character, the people in
general are industrious, frugal, respectable, and self-respect-
ing. Many kind hearts are in the village, and, without
mentioning piety, there are noble instances of a self-denying,
Christ-like life. Several are the owners of their shops and
dwellings, and can boast of a tocher in the bank. The work-
ing men — and the village knows no other class — are

394 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

remarkably intelligent and level-headed. They all read,
and they reflect upon the matter they read. The newspapers
are eagerly perused, some taking in a " daily " ; but many
add more permanent literary treasures to their mental stores,
and the Bible-class " essay," or the " paper " and " speech " at
the Literary Society, amply prove that with favourable
auspices and a higher ambition, any of the learned pro-
fessions might be attained by them with ease and distinction.
Perhaps their lack of aspiration to higher things is the char-
acteristic most to be regretted. This is fostered, no doubt,
by the spirit of hopelessness with which village lads usually
regard the world beyond them. Going to strange homes,
among strange people, to pursue a fortune never before
attempted by his forbears, is a prospect which daunts the
young heart, be it ever so brave ; and when his village
shyness, and modesty, and clumsiness are brought alongside
of the airs and appearance of some townified acquaintance,
and he hears also the repeated fears of his parents dinned
mournfully in his ears, together with the knowledge of a
limited supply of money at his command, there is little
wonder that any latent spark of ambition in him should be
extinguished, and that instead of walking the stately
corridors of the University, he is found whistling all his
days at the plough, turning out wheel-barrows and cart-
wheels, or thrashing tackets on a stool.

The social side of life is one fairly well cultivated,
although this is largely shared with the farm people in the
surrounding district. Farm " hands " have no " harvest
homes " or " kirns " in the parish, and duller farms, socially
or convivially, it would be hard to find, and consequently the
lads and lasses from the farms are always included in invita-
tions to " social " meetings, and they steadily avail them-

OXTON 395

selves of these. No cold exclusiveness exists between the
" metropolis " and the " provinces " ! The behaviour at
gatherings of this kind is excellent. By mutual arrange-
ment, " socials " are conducted " on teetotal principles," as
it is termed, and thus there is nothing more exhilarating
than dances and refreshments of a substantial nature to
arouse latent differences into flame, even if these actually
existed. There is no distinctive market or fair, annual or
otherwise, held in the parish, nor can any trace of such be
found in the past. The burgh of Lauder has always been
the centre of attraction in matters of this kind, and it is yet
the rendezvous for them twice a year at least.

What, perhaps, helps to keep the sociable element
specially active in the village, is the return, on occasions
of such meetings, of the young folk who have had to seek
employment beyond the bounds of their calf-ground. The
sight of home and home faces naturally exalts the spirits
of the " exiles," and their gaiety communicates itself to the
rest, and renders these " socials " very hilarious indeed. But
this evokes once more the regret that all the young people
should require to seek the " distant scene " in which to earn
a crust of bread. The young people are the life of a parish
and district, and when they have to abandon their homes, they
leave behind them faces graver because of their absence, and,
for many, a grey seriousness hangs like a pall over hill and
holm till they return. Were there a class of wealthy people,
this condition of things might have some compensations.
The lack of some class to respect beyond themselves is
always hurtful to working people. They see no one to
emulate or follow, the interest in their similar soon loses
edge, and scorn of pretension and low pride is, of course, the
reward of him who ventures his head out of the common

396 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

ditch. All the heritors and all their representatives live out
of the parish, and take small interest in its human affairs
beyond drawing the rents. Rents of farms, rents of houses,
and such like, become drained away, and the people derive
no benefit from either the persons or the purses of those
who partly live by their labours. There is consequently little
circulation of money. This is rendered still worse by the
fact that the wealthiest farmers follow the landlords' example.
The poverty of the parish, in this way, soon stares at every
one, as a consequence, in neglected, dreary farm-steadings,
unslated and unwashed ; and when workpeople have to labour
and live amid such dismal surroundings, under the commands
of an inferior, they are apt to lose respect both for themselves
and their place.

It is a sunny spot, in the gloom of these circumstances,
to see the strong attachment to their village shown by the
youths who have been shoved out of their valley by " man's
inhumanity to man." They return at "social" times as
lively as swallows in summer, and renew friendships with
deeper zest. They seem to forget all the causes of sundered
homes and parted hearts, and it is only when graver episodes,
such as sickness and funerals, call them to serious reflections,
that the " absentee landlords," " led farms," and such like
"grievances" come up, among much else, for disapproval
and reprobation.

In 1794 the Rev. Thomas Murray, minister of the parish
of Channelkirk, wrote an account of it for the Old Statistical
Account of Scotland, which was set agoing by Sir John
Sinclair, but he mentions nothing specific regarding Oxton
worth quoting. Neither does the New Statistical Account
give more particulars. Nearly all the trades set down
there may, however, be reasonably regarded as those of

OXTON 397

people living in Oxton. In 1794 there was one weaver
and six tailors, two shoemakers, two smiths, one wright,
three masons, and one gardener. Two of these occupations
have vanished — the weaver and the gardener. There are
three millers mentioned then, whose trade has also become
a thing of the past.

The trades actively represented in it at present are :
Grocers, two ; blacksmiths, two ; tailors and clothiers, two ;
shoemakers, two ; drapers, two ; joiners, one ; confectioners,
one ; dressmakers, one ; bakers, one ; dykers, one ; roadmen,
two.

There are, moreover, several tradesmen who have
abandoned their regular calling for labouring work, and
several journeymen are employed in the shops enumerated
in addition to those given. Several ploughmen, vanmen,
mole-catchers, lodgers, etc., make up the rest of the village
industries. The teacher is the sole representative of the
professions, and the constable keeps all in awe of the majesty
of government.

The following lists may interest the present inhabitants :

Resident Gentry in 1825.*

Capt. James Scott, R.N., Channelkirk.
George Somerville, Esq., J. P.
Capt. James Somerville, of Airhouse.

Merchants and Tradesmen^ etc.

John Bell, shoemaker, Ugston.
Malcolm McBean, shoemaker, Ugston.
George Mitchell, shoemaker, Ugston.
David Scott, shoemaker, Ugston.
Andrew Campbell, draper, Ugston.

♦ Pigot & Co.'s Directory.

398 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

William Dalgleish, tailor, Ugston.

John Murray, tailor, Ugston.

Robert Glendinning, flesher, Ugston.

John McDougal, master of the Parochial School, Ugston.

NiCHOL DODDS, assistant master. Parochial School, Ugston.

Thomas Donaldson, baker, Ugston.

James Howden, cartwright, Ugston.

George Mitchell, innkeeper and grocer, Ugston.

James Lyall, innkeeper and grocer, Ugston.

James Turnbull, innkeeper, Carfraemill.

James Wood, senr., grocer, Ugston.

James Wood, grocer, Ugston.

William Lindsay, grocer, Ugston.

Andrew Reid, blacksmith, Ugston.

In 1866, the trades, etc., in Oxton were as under : *

Bootmakers . . John Bell.

David Scott.

Thomas Scott.
Cartwrights . . William Bell.

John Campbell.

Robert Watson.
Grocers . . . James Mathewson.

Robert Macintosh.

Andrew Campbell.

Robert Walkinshaw (also a spirit dealer).
Milliner . . . Mary Ann Forrest.
Blacksmiths . . John Murray,

Alexander Reid.

James N. Reid.
Tailors and Clothiers William Waddell.

Adam Richardson.

John Waddell.
Drapers . . . James Swan.

Adam Watson.
Baker . . . John Scott.

One or two things connected with the village might be
considered worthy of perusal. And first, as to religion.
Dissent once flourished in Oxton, and had its "church,"
* Rutherford's Southern Counties' Register and Directory.

OXTON 399

and passed through the usual period of struggle and
martyrdom. Some one has said that Presbyterianism is
never happier than when in a condition of distress and
wringing of its hands. There was in 175 1 a zealous band
of anti-burghers in Oxton belonging to Stow congregation.
They petitioned the Presbytery of Edinburgh for a
separate "supply of sermon," and this was granted. They
then worshipped in the open air, and in barns as "pain-
fully" as possible, for, as a rule, the more gruesome the
circumstances of worship, the deeper the conviction obtains
that '* this is none other than the house of God ! "
Ultimately, it appears they became decently housed in the
two-storey building adjoining Mr Alex. Reid's smithy, to
the west, at the top of the village, and there " protested "
to their heart's content. This Shiloh was not very well
supported by Oxton inhabitants by-and-by, and soon the
majority was observed to be mostly composed of people
from Lauder and its vicinity, who on reflection thought
they might sensibly spare both their zeal and their legs
if they built a " meeting house " there. This was done in
1758, and the Oxton congregation, which had hitherto been
under the wing of Stow, from this date became changed
to that of Lauder. Oxton, therefore, can boast of once
possessing a " mother church ! "

"Oxton Friendly Society," established in 1801, for
meeting the exigencies of sickness and death among the
working people, and " Oxton Total Abstinence Society,"
instituted in 1840, have both lapsed for many years. This
must also be said of the " Parochial Library " located in
Oxton, and more recently extinct.

Another institution which has had a more permanent
life than the above is Oxton Friendly Bovial Society,

400 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

which held its first meeting on the nth of May 1839,
and still continues to flourish. It was formed for the
laudable purpose of mutual assistance in case of loss of
cows from disease or accident. But it has often served
the purpose also of social celebrations, and in uniting
classes of men in pleasant reunions whose interests and
occupations keep them apart, and pleasant memories and
merry associations are often recalled in connection with it.
So much for the past. At present high expectations
are being fostered that a new era is at hand for the
ancient village with the advent of the railway. The old
order must change, it is felt ; and few will regret to have
it .so. The locality is one which is much appreciated by
summer visitors, and even with the present difficulties to
encounter, is taxed to find accommodation for those who
come. With travelling facilities on a level with modern
comforts, and with a new water-supply now in process of
construction, there is little doubt that building will increase,
population multiply, and trades expand, and perhaps the
whole face of the valley as well as of the village undergo
a complete transformation in the coming generations. We
feel confident that the knowledge of its early history will
not detract from, but rather enhance, the modern amenities
of the old place, for although it has given no great name
to the world, and written no bold letters on the page of
history, it is yet intimately associated with the interests
and fortunes of some of Scotland's most memorable families.
" History is made up of what is little as well as of what is
great, of what is common as well as of what is strange, of
what is counted mean as well as of what is counted
noble." * One has sometimes beheld a tiny stream wind
* Flint's Philosophy of History, p. 8.

OXTON 401

a not uninteresting course through a broad plain, whose
noble beauty and varied expanse almost prevented the
eye from seeing the silvery band of soft meandering
water ; so the dim annalistic course of our little village
has flowed onwards through the wide vista of national
history, unobtrusive and chequered, yet now and then
throwing up its bits of clear light, and here and there
casting back some broken reflection of the images of men
who were moulding in the impassioned spheres of human
life and sorrow the stern character of their time and
country.

2 C

CHAPTER XIV

THE BARONIES — Continued.
Carfrae

The name "Carfrae" — Ancient Boundaries of Carfrae Lands — The
Sinclairs of Herdmanston — Serfdom at Carfrae — Division of
Lands — The Homes — The Maitlands — The Haigs of Bemersyde
and Hazeldean — The Tweeddales and Carfrae — Tenants — Robert
Hogarth — The Wights — Headshaw — Herniecleuch — Hazeldean —
Friarsknowes — Fairnielees — Hillhouse — Kelphope — Tollishill.

Carfrae is in some respects the most notable place in
Upper Lauderdale. It has always preserved in its name
and situation a certain distinction both with respect to
its strategic importance as a stronghold in ancient times,
and its territorial connection with the proudest names in
Scottish history. All other landed properties in Channel-
kirk parish have, with the passing of the centuries, slowly
declined from the gilded levels of aristocratic possession
to the less lustrous, if more practical, regions of the com-
moner ; but Carfrae, undoubtedly notable when the
Brythonic Ottadini entrenched themselves on its woody
heights, before Roman, Saxon, or Dane had visited the
sources of the Leader, has never, since the era of record,
brooked a humbler name on its charters than those which
belong to the nation's oldest families and are impressed
on many a page of its political annals

CARFRAE 403

When its position is considered as commanding the
only two reasonable passes from Upper Lauderdale into
Lothian by way of Glengelt and Kelphope glens, and its
height on the promontory of land at their junction, it is
not surprising to find its history, long before it is chronicled
in records, to have been a warlike one, or to discover this
belligerent character as clearly written in its camp or camps,
as it is deeply stamped upon its name. Two ancient camps
stand boldly out almost within arrow-flight of each other,
on steep heights that must have rendered them formidable
places of defence in those far-away days of barbarous
conflict ; and whatever date may be assigned to their con-
struction, there can be no doubt as to their hostile purpose,
and the name still further bears witness that Carfrae was
originally a place of " derring doe," and doubtless the scene
of many a bloody encounter.

The earliest form of the name is Carfra. It is Celtic.
Carfrae is probably Caer and some name which cannot
be identified, but also, probably, Brythonic (Welsh) rather
than Goidelic (Gaelic). The earliest known inhabitants of
our district were Otadini, a Celtic people of the Brythonic *
or Welsh branch, speaking the Welsh dialect in contradis-
tinction to the Gaelic ; and caer, in Welsh, means fort^
or, according to Camden, " a fortified place or city." As
Carfrae is perhaps the only place in Lauderdale which by
its name is distinguished as a Brythonic stronghold, so
we may likewise, perhaps on that ground, assume that it is
also the oldest. For similar ancient "camps," "forts," or
strongholds scattered throughout the dale denominated
" Chester," are not by that name considered as pointing
to a Roman, but a Saxon origin, and therefore several
* CelHc Britain^ p. 221,

404 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

centuries later than the earHest mention of the Brythons
in the Leader district, who were the inhabitants conquered
by both. " ' Cester ' was thoroughly established among the
Saxons in England at a very early period," says Dr
Christison, and he is of opinion that they, and not the
Romans, introduced it into Scotland.*

Carfrae comes first before us historically in a charter
granted {cir. 1196) by William de Moreville, Lord of
Lauderdale, to Henry de Saint Clair, of the lands of Carfra.
The boundaries given are now of course very dim on
account of the place-names which define them, being all but
obliterated. We give the Latin description as follows : —

" Sicut Langilde se jungit ad Mosburne et illinc descendit
usque ad Ledre et ex superiori parte sicut Mosburn ascendit
usque ad Venneshende et de Venneshende usque ad Sumu-
indnight illinc per descendum usque ad viam de Glengelt
et illinc usque Ledre." This may be Englished — " From
where Langilde (now Langat) joins itself to Mosburn (now
Kelphope Water), and thence descends to the Leader.
And on the upper part, from where Mosburn ascends to
Venneshende, and from Venneshende to Sumuindnight,
thence by descent to the road from Glengelt, and so to the
Leader." The starting-point of the description is the place
nearest Carfrae which had a distinct locality and character.
" Langild " turns up in several old charters. The ruins of
it still stand, or recently were standing, not many years
ago, and the mimulus from its garden yet grow luxuriantly
by the stream which swept them out on its way to join
the Kelphope Water (Mosburn). From Langat the
boundary follows Mosburn (Kelphope Water) clear down to
the Leader, that is, to Carfraemill, or to the Leader's banks.
* Early Fortifications^ pp. 105-6.

CARFRAv

>7 405

Instead of continuing round by\

IT . , AGlengelt, the opposite
course is now pursued, in actual laK ^

that the boundaries are declared by T\ ,c

4- J- 4. T 4. ■4.U w cu -a- u W Morville himself

standing at Langat with his bherin, Henr^ . .

and their retinues, and pointing first one ■\i.
and then to the right. All marches in those ^
perambulated personally. Consequently, after sh^
march from Langat to the Leader on his left ha: ^
begins again at where he is standing, and describes \'
" higher part " (superiori parte). From Langat the mara
follows Mosburn as it goes up (ascendit) to Venneshende. -
Venneshende may have been a place near Friarsknowes, \
or more probably towards Lammer Law, for in a later
confirmation of this charter by Roland, Lord Galloway,
the march is described as proceeding "from the head of
Langat to the boundaries of Lothian, towards Lamber-
lawe " (de capite de Langild usque ad divisas de Laodonia
versus Lamberlawe). Venneshende, therefore, may have
been a place much further " towards Lamberlawe " than
Friarsknowes. Thence the march of Carfrae lands pro-
ceeds to another unknown place called, strangely enough,
Sumuindnight. It is distinguished from the other places
mentioned by the absence of " ascending " or "descending"
joined to it, phrases which suit exactly the nature of the
ground in the other cases. We therefore surmise it must
have lain to the west of the Lammer Law in the direction
of Huntershall, or the Den, across a comparatively level
expanse of hilly moorland. From this place, the march
now " descends " to the road from Glengelt, or Glengelt
Road, and so following Glengelt Road down to the Leader
or Headshaw Burn.

The outline, although somewhat vague, is yet clear enough

y y

406

HISTORY dF CHANNELKIRK

to define the lands of Carfrae, which to-day do not differ
far in essentials from the description given in De Morville's
charter. This was t/D be expected on account of these lands
having so seldom -changed owners during 700 years. Head-
shaw was thus included in Carfrae boundaries, and all the
land on the v-east of Headshaw water. Glengelt estate never
seems to^'have crossed that stream at any time within the

C ''

view ov 'history, though it gave its name for long to the hills
extprfiding from Carfraemill to Lammer Law.

Carfrae estate as thus bounded was given about and
before the year 1196, "to be held from me (William de
Moreville) and my heirs, by him (Henry de Saintclair), and
j_ his heirs, in fee and heritage, in land and water, in meadows

r" and pastures, and wood and plain, and without the forest,

/ freely and quietly, for the service of one knight."

" I concede likewise to him, as in his fee, his mill (Carfrae
Mill) held without multure.

" I concede to him that no one shall use his land or
pasture or his wood unless he permit, yet at the same time
that we shall mutually use the common pasture-land of our
dominions."

This charter was afterwards confirmed by Rolland, Earl of
Galloway, who married the granter's sister Ellen, and got
Lauderdale lands with her, to Allan de Saintclair of Carfrae,
who was married to Mathilda of Windesour ; and in 1434 " ane
instrument " of it is taken by John Saintclair of Hermiston.

Herdmanston came into the hands of Henry de Sinclair
in 1 162 by charter from Richard de Morville, Lord of Lauder-
dale. The Morevilles had acquired vast possessions in
Lothian, Lauderdale, and Cunninghame, and Sir Henry,
Sheriff to Richard, seems to have been a favourite. The
Sinclairs of Herdmanston, and later of Carfrae, " are thus

CARFRAE 407

entitled to be considered as the first family in point of
antiquity in the county of Haddington."

The fortunes of Carfrae were henceforth bound up in
those of the honourable family of Herdmanston, and its lands
do not seem to have been separated in any way until,
perhaps, the close of the fifteenth century.

From the fact that John de Sauncler received liberty to
build chapels at Hirdmanston and Carfrae, and to have
private chaplains at each for behoof of his own people, we
surmise that Carfrae must have long been a residence of the
Sinclairs. That Sinclair of Carfrae was also the Sheriff of
the High Constable of Scotland would give the place both
social and political pre-eminence over the other residences of
Upper Lauderdale. But it would be difficult to say at what
particular time this John de Sauncler lived, and consequently
the time when Carfrae was at its best. There is a John de
Sinclair of Herdmanston in the Arbroath charters, of date
1 248, who succeeded to Allan de Sinclair in the estates, and
who may be identical with the above, but there is a John of
Herdmanston, also of date 1296, who does homage to
Edward I., and yet another of 1542 who witnesses in the
Roslyn charters. We are inclined to accept 1248 as the
period when Carfrae rose to highest importance as a
residence, although this seems to have been sustained to a
much later time when it received the status of a barony.

As far back as the years 1162-66, there is a charter which
gives a pathetic insight into the conditions of peasant life
then prevalent in Lauderdale.* Richard de Moreville sold
to Sir Henry St Clair, Edmund, the son of Bonda, and
Gillemichel, his brother, their sons and daughters, and all
their progeny, for the sum of three merks (40s.), and it
* Dipiomata Scotia^ P- 75-

408 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

is also stipulated that if St Clair ever parts with them
willingly, they are to return to the overlordship of De
Morville.

Perhaps this serfdom was not actually so debasing in
practice as it seems to us now, viewing it from our nineteenth
century heights of freedom and rights of contract. The
advantages of defence were then likely to be more valued
than freedom to wander anywhere and work to any master.
By being thirled to the land, the lord of the barony stood
pledged to defend his nativi with all his power ; and the
picture of the strongly-defended castle surrounded with its
wooden huts and occupying bondmen, bound to common
interests and mutual protection, has a certain air of com-
munal association which is neither harsh nor tyrannical.
Guizot declares, regarding the feudalism which prevailed
from the tenth to the thirteenth century : " It is impossible to
mistake the great and salutary influence exerted by it upon
the development of sentiments, characters, and ideas. We
cannot look into the history of this period without meeting
with a crowd of noble sentiments, great actions, fine displays
of humanity, born evidently in the bosom of feudal manners."*

From the above names, Edmund (Saxon), and Gillemichel
(Gaelic), we might be led to infer that intermixture of the
races had begun. We are told that Simeon of Durham, who
died in 1 1 30, narrates that the Scotch made inroads upon
the English and made slaves of them, " so that even to this
day, I do not say no little village, but even no cottage, can
be found without one of them, f The ancient race, native to
the land, was also enslaved by the Saxons, and thus the

* Guizot's History of Civilisation^ vol. i., p. 81. Bogue's European
Library.

f Celtic Scotland, vol. i., p. 422.

CARFllAE 40d

intermingling of Saxon and Gaelic names among Carfrae
bondmen becomes clear to us.

Sir William Sinclair of Herdmanston was distinguished
for great gallantry on the field of Bannockburn. He then
conducted himself so bravely as to earn the high admiration
of King Robert the Bruce. The King presented him with a
sword with the words engraved on it : " La Roi me donne,
St Clair me poste" — "The King gives me, St Clair carries
me." He fell fighting the Moors in Spain, while accompany-
ing the good Lord James, Earl of Douglas, who bore the
heart of his royal master to the Holy Land.

About the year 1380 Sir William de Abernethy be-
queaths the Mill of Ulkeston (Oxton) to the Abbey of
Dryburgh, and among other witnesses to this charter we
have the name of " Adam, Milneknave of Carfrae." * The
mill-knave was under-miller, and as we have seen the Mill
of Carfrae about the year 1196, the first sight of one of its
millers nearly two hundred years afterwards is not without
interest. We conclude that Milneknave is not a surname,
though surnames are given to some of the other witnesses,
because he is styled " de Carfrae," and such territorial
designation could not have been given to any one except
a Sinclair.

A change seems to have taken place about the middle of
the fifteenth century, which had the effect of narrowing the
lands hitherto denominated " of Carfrae." Sir Patrick Home
of Polwart, second son of David Home, younger of Wedder-
burn, had an elder brother George, who was retoured heir of
his grandfather in that barony the 12th of May 1469. These
two brothers, George of Wedderburn and Sir Patrick of
Polwart, married two sisters, Marion and Margaret respec-
* Dryburgh Register, No. 312.

410 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

tively, who were daughters of Sir John Sinclair of Herd-
manston and Carfrae, and who Hkewise were the co-heiresses
of their father's estates in at least Polwart and Kimmerg-
hame. When Sir John died, apparently in 1468, strife broke
out between (his son) William Sinclair and the two sisters,
wives of Wedderburn and Polwart, and the case in 1471
went to law. * They accused him of wrongous withholding
of certain charters and evidents of the lands of Hirdman-
ston, Carfra, and Pencaitland, Templefield, Polwarth, and
Kymmerghame, and a reversion of Hateschaw (Headshaw),
and Medil (Midlie), and of withholding of certain goods of
heirship pertaining to them. Being a case of fee and
heritage, it was referred to the Lords of Parliament.

In 1494 we ascertain from another lawsuit, which
concerns Headshaw more particularly, that Headshaw was
in the superiority of the above George Home of Wedder-
burn, husband of Marion Sinclair of Herdmanston, and
Headshaw being within Carfrae territory, had evidently
gone to him as his wife's share in the estate, f

At Stirling, 27th June 1545, Queen Mary confirms to
John Sinclair of Hirdmanstoun and Margaret Sinclair his
wife, the home lands of Hirdmanstoun, two parts of the
Mains of Pencaitland called Coddikis, etc., etc., and two
parts of the lands and steading of Carfray and Mill in
Lauderdale, and by annexation within the barony of
Hirdmanstoun. I The other parts of Carfrae are evidently
at this time separated from the Sinclair interest, and pre-
sumably these were Headshaw and others which were in
the hands of the Homes.

* Acta Dominoruin Auditorum.
t Acta Dotninorum Concilii.
X Great Seal.

CARFRAE 411

In 1567 the above John Sinclair seems to be dead, and
Sir Wm. Sinclair enters upon possession, but Margaret
Sinclair, who was joined in the feu with her husband, retains
the two parts of Carfrae and Mill as above. *

Carfrae in 1569 comes under the influence of a name
which was destined to rise high in the political offices of
the nation. In that year, at the city of St Andrews, on the
1 6th of May, the young King James confirms the charter of
Sir William Sinclair of Hirdmestoun, in which, for a sum of
money paid, he sold to Mary Maitland, daughter of Sir
Richard Maitland of Lethington (now Lennoxlove), the
annual income of 1 10 marks {£7$, 6s. 8d.) from his barony
of Hirdmestoun, viz., from the lands of Hirdmestoun, the
home lands, the mains and mills of the same, the lands of
Wester Pencaitland with woods and mill, as well as from
the lands of Carfray with mill, in the bailiary of Lauderdale,
but within the sheriffdom and constabulary of Edinburgh by
annexation, holding from the King by the said Mary and her
legitimate heirs, whom failing, by the said Richard and his
heirs, -f*

The Maitland family have slowly crept into the place and
power in Lauderdale which were anciently held by the De
Morvilles, and in thus, in a sense, returning to them, even
though as bond, Carfrae was, as it were, coming back to
the original status which it enjoyed before the Sinclairs of
Herdmanstoun possessed it. This also appears to be the
first time that any Maitland obtained a landed interest in
Channelkirk parish.

The above Sir Richard Maitland, father of Mary, is well
known for his honourable connection with poetic literature.
He is the " Auld Lettingtoun," " the old Larde of Lething-
* Exchequer Rolls. t Great Seal.

412 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

toun " of Knox's History. * He was a worthy descendant
of the "Auld Maitland" of the thirteenth century, who
defended his castle so doughtily, and who was as devout as
he was brave. Robert Maitland, descended from the " grey-
haired knight," appears to have acquired the lands of
Lethington about the close of the fourteenth century from
the Giffords of that Ilk. From Robert, in successive genera-
tion, there were William, and from William, John, and from
John another William who was the father of the poet. Sir
Richard, "the old larde," born in 1496.

Sir Richard was married about 1530 to Mary Cranston,
daughter of Sir Thomas Cranston of Crosby, a younger
branch of the Cranston House, and had seven sons and
four daughters. Mary, who obtains from Sir William
Sinclair the annual return of no merks from his estate,
as above, was Sir Richard's third daughter, and was married
to Alexander Lauder of Hatton.

At Hirdmanston, on the 20th March 1580, Sir William
Sinclair grants to Lady Sybil Cockburn, his wife, in liferent,
his lands of Carfrae, with manor, mansion, homelands, mill,
and Rigside, with privilege of Carfra Common. This is
confirmed on 17th February 1593, with some other favours.
Carfrae, with mill and all pertinents, is again, on the death,
evidently, of Sir William, conveyed in 1629 to Sir John
Sinclair of Hirdmanston, and Elizabeth Sinclair, his future
wife (who was daughter of John Sinclair of Stevinstoun,
merchant and bailie in Edinburgh), in conjunct fee, and to
their heirs legitimate. In 1590 Murray of Blackbarony was
security in 50CXD merks that the Laird of Philiphaugh would
not harm Sir William Sinclair of Hirdmanston. In 1641, on

* Vol. ii., p. 403 ; vol. i., p. 97. See also Ballad of "Auld Maitland,"
and Scott's Marmion, notes.

CARFRAE 413

15th November, the King confirms and de novo gives to
Sir John Sinclair (among others) Carfrae lands, with manor
place, mill, holdings, etc., in Lauderdale, in the barony of
Herdmanston.

Returning for a little to the year 1632, we learn from the
Decreet of the High Commission of that date that Sir John
Sinclair of Herdmanston held, in this parish, Carfrae and
Midlie, Fairnlees, Hillhouse, Hirniecleuch, and Carfrae Mill,
and mill lands.* One place, Hizildans, originally in Carfrae
lands, and from which the minister at that time drew stipend,
is not mentioned as being Sir John's. The reason is that
Hizildans was then in the possession of the Haigs of Bemer-
syde. Thus the Homes had cut Headshaw out of the estate
on the west, and the Haigs had sliced off Hizildans on the
east. In 1617, on 17th December, James Haig of Bemersyde
is retoured heir of Robert Haig, his father, in the lands of
Hissildans, in the barony of Hermestoune, lordship of
Carfra.+ Sir Henry Sinclair of Carfra had a daughter, Ada,
who married (about 1200) Peter de Haig of Bemersyde, the
second of that name. It is curious to find this early interest
in Carfrae still clinging to the Haigs of the seventeenth
century, four hundred years later. Hissildans was then
"of I OS. taxt value, auld extent; and 40s. new extent."
This James Haig, heir of Hissildans in 1617, is notable in his
way. Fierce and headstrong during his reign in Bemersyde,
he gave ample proof that a man may maintain his rights
without help from any laws except what reside within his
own stout heart and arm. He ran away with the Laird of
Stodrig's daughter to begin with, for which he just escaped
his father's dagger. He did not, however, escape the old
man's curse, "which followed him to his grave." Indeed,
* Decreet of Locality^ p. 239. f Retours.

414 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

the advent of James on the historic scene was, to all appear-
ance, the beginning of the declension of the house of
Bemersyde. Contracts and agreements had no reverence
for James when they thwarted his wishes, and having braved
all public respect, and deranged the peace of his father's
house, to quarrel also with his neighbours was almost
inevitable. Haliburton, the Laird of Mertoun, and he, had
their properties joining in the vicinity of Bemersyde Loch,
and the watery marshes, instead of imparting a cooling
atmosphere to the two boundaries, became, ultimately, a
veritable calorific geyser, which spouted such intolerable
hot waters over both the houses of Bemersyde and Mertoun
as literally to stew them alive. We shall leave it to Anthony
Haig to tell the story. The little touches of old Adam are
peculiar to the days. He was the grandson of James Haig
of Hissildans. After describing the disputed boundaries,
and showing us that they are yet " visiabbly merched with
ston," he says : — " It will not be amise to show you what
one pased betwixt my guidser and the Laird of Marton
then liveing. Marton wold faine have stolne a prevelidge
beyound those march stons, and for that end caused on of
his men com upe and cast some diffits beyound the march.
My grandfather, hearing thereof, cam to the fellow, brock his
head, toke from him his spade ; at which Marton was greatly
offended, and on day going to Coldenknowes with on
Thomas Helliburton with him, he bravadingly crost the
rigges befor the Laird of Bemersyde's door, which he seeing,
told him he would be in his comon (would be so obliged to
him ! ) if he would com that way backe againe. He said
he would, and accordingly did so ; whom, when my grand-
father saw, caled to his son James to bring him his gune,
which the boy did — cam out, and ther pased some words

CARFRAE 415

betwixt them, upon which Martone did bid my guidsire in
derision shott at his a — e with drops, and held it upe. He
had no soner spak the word then he shott him with the wholl
grath in his a — e ; upon which he fald of his horse, and the
uther Helliburton coming upon with his sword to him, he
tourned about the but end of his peac, and struke him doune,
so that he was forcsed to send them both home cared (carried)
in blankets. But this proved noways advantagious to the
2 families, for ever after ther remained heart-burnings
betwixt the two houses, so that the countrie people observed
it layed the foundation of runeing of both the families." *
They were merry in those days !

Carfrae lands seem to have passed from the Sinclairs of
Herdmanston to the Maitlands of Lauderdale between 1641
and 1650, at which latter date they again passed finally into
the Tweeddale family. This appears from a Charter of
Resignation and Novodamus under the Great Seal, in favour
of John, Lord Hay of Yester, and his heirs male, and of
tailzie, specified in the infeftments of the lands of Yester,
dated 24th June, and sealed 2nd July 1650. This charter
bears to proceed, partly upon a Procuratory of Resignation
contained in a Disposition by John, Earl (afterwards, in 1672,
Duke) of Lauderdale, eldest son and heir of John, Earl of
Lauderdale, in favour of Sir Adam Hepburn of Humbie,
dated 27th May 1650, and partly upon an apprising, dated
26th March 1650, against John, first Earl of Tweeddale,
at the instance of Dr Alexander Ramsay, physician to
Charles I.

Carfrae lands still remain in the possession of the Tweed-
dales. We find them denominated in 1676, " the lands and
barony of Carfrae," t and Carfrae is frequently so designated
* Haigs of Bemersyde, p. 476. f Retours.

416 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

after that date. Before that time it is spoken of as "the
lordship of Carfrae."

The earHest mentioned tenant in Carfrae is James Somer-
ville in 17 14. He acquired Airhouse estate at this time.
There seem to have been Somervilles tenants in Carfrae
onwards till 1771. George Somerville was tenant there in
1744, and perhaps for some time previous to that year. He
assigned, in 1758, one-third of the farm to his son Alexander,
on his marriage with Janet Stevenson. The son of this
couple, Simon Somerville, was of some note in his day. He
was their eldest son, and was born at Carfrae in 1767.
Taught at Channelkirk parish school, and then at Duns, he
studied for the dissenting ministry in Edinburgh, and was
licensed in 1790. He was called to Barrie in 1791, and to
Elgin in 1805, where he originated the Elgin and Morayshire
Bible Society about 1820. He died in 1839.* His father,
George Somerville, would appear to have removed to
Kirktonhill Farm about 1771, as in this year we find Robert
Hogarth " tenant in Carfrae." Mr Somerville was " made an
elder" in Channelkirk Church in 1744, and was for long the
treasurer of the Session's funds. He died in Kirktonhill in
1779.

Much interest attaches to the tenancy of Carfrae by the
above Robert Hogarth, as his coming to the parish created
something like a revolution in the methods of farming in the
district. Writing in 1794 for the Old Statistical Account, the
Rev. Thomas Murray says regarding him : — " Agriculture
has made wonderful progress within these last twenty years
in this parish. This has been chiefly owing to the skill and
attention of one individual, Mr Robert Hogarth, tenant in
Carfrae. He came twenty-five years ago from East Berwick-
* United Secession Magazine, April 1840.

CARFRAE 417

shire. At this period our farmers were total strangers to the
turnip, and very little acquainted with the lime and sown-
grass system. He introduced turnip and clover, and suc-
ceeded. It is now very general to grow turnips, and in no
part of Berwickshire is it in greater quantity, or of better
quality, on the same extent of land. He also introduced the
white-faced, long-wooled sheep from Northumberland, and
they promise to answer well." Mr Hogarth is also credited
with the introduction of the potato into the district, but this
was later, about 1780. Bruce, in his Appendix to Lowe's
Agriculture of Berwickshire (July 1794), notes that Robert
Hogarth, in Carfrae, " has made astonishing changes upon
a large tract of very high wild country."

We have heard it said that he was of the family of
Hogarths which gave Charles Dickens his wife, but we have
been unable to verify the assertion. The Parish Records of
his time show him to have been a man of influence and
leading among his class, although not always amenable to
counsel from the kirk. He is reputed to have been a strict
manager on his farm, but not quite competent to combat
the ways and wit of some of his ploughmen. It is related
that one of his " hands," who loved his " miry beasts " as
dearly as men are enjoined to love their neighbour, believed
that the allowance of corn granted by Hogarth was in-
sufficient to meet their wants, and he was in the habit of
purloining extra quantities when an opportunity served,
to make up the rather scrimp measure. Hogarth resented
this as wanton insubordination and waste, and repeatedly
cautioned the ploughman to desist, else worse would befall
him. But the affection of the hind for his horses was
.stronger than his dread of " the maister," and he continued
pilfering the forbidden " heapit stimpart." Hogarth was

2 D

418 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

just as determined to " put him down." One day while
this spirit of dog-watch-the-cat prevailed, the farm hands
were all set on to thresh the stacks through the mill.
Accordingly, sack after sack of oats was filled and set past,
and the ploughman, seeing the abundance, remembered
his starved horses, as he believed, and resolved to abstract
one of the sacks to the loft above the stables where the
hinds of those days were wont to sleep at night. He com-
municated his design to the two women workers who were
assisting in storing the sacks, and implicated them so far
in the felonious act by obtaining their help to shove the
sack on his shoulders from behind, as he carried it upstairs
to the floor above. But the loft door was narrow, and the
ploughman and the sack rather bulky, and, moreover, the
more haste produced less speed, while in the midst of the
tugging and shoving of the bag by the man above and the
women below, who should come into the barn but the
farmer ! The women thus caught slunk away abashed,
and Mr Hogarth, rejoicing in his opportunity, stepped
forward .into their place and began to push up the sack
which the ploughman, all unaware of the substitute, was
in vain struggling above to extricate from its tight fittings.
The women below dared not reveal to him the altered
condition of things, and he, supposing the farmer to be
far afield, exhorted them vociferously " Shove, ye deevils ;
shove up ! the auld skinflint '11 be in an' catch us. Lord's
sake, shove, can ye no ! " The extra pressure was soon
applied by the farmer, and the sack was victoriously de-
posited in the loft. The consternation of the ploughman
may be conceived when the actual circumstances stood
revealed to him. "Ye're in for't this time," quoth "the
maister " ; " I'll ' skinflint ' ye, an' no mistake. Ye'll gang

CARFRAE 419

afore the Shirra for this, sir." And Mr Hogarth kept his
word. The summons was served, the Court day at Lauder
arrived, and the two parties prepared to " gang before their
betters." But unconcernedly the ploughman was seen out
in the field ploughing as usual, and Hogarth, thinking his
man had forgotten the exact day, went across the rigs to
remind him. " Oh, I'm mindin' weel aneuch," quoth the
ploughman, " I'll be doon in time, nae fears," It was six
miles to Lauder Burgh Court-room, where the trial was
to be held. How he was to walk there in time was a puzzle
to the farmer, but he himself deemed it his duty to appear
at the bar, and hurried off afoot. When about half distance
he heard a great clattering of horses behind him, and,
turning round, beheld his man riding his " pair " at a fast
rate. " What's this o't ? " inquired the master. " What
use are the horses in the case? They should have been
resting now in the stable instead of racing in this daft
manner. What do you mean ? " The workman's wit
was equal to the occasion, " I wad consider, sir," said he,
" that the horses are resetters in this thievin' business, and
the Shirra may need to examine them as weel's me. The
resetter's as bad's the thief, ye ken ! " The farmer, who
had really intended to give John but a " scare," grasped the
humour of the situation and bestrode the other horse, en-
couraging John to keep his seat, and together the belligerents
rode on to Lauder. But they did not enter the Court-room.
They were seen going to an inn, and in due time men
and horses were being regaled with the best fare it afforded.
On coming home at night the rumour went abroad that the
case had been " a hard yin," and the sentence " heavy," and
" the Shirra jist terrible," but the " resetters " knew for
certain that they had carried home to Carfrae the "thief"

420 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

and " the maister " as merry as two men could possibly
be. It is handed down that Mr Hogarth often afterwards
related this incident at social parties with great delight.

In 1816 he heads the petition to the Presbytery by
the parishioners to have the church removed to some place
near Oxton. Two brothers, named Milne, followed him in
the tenancy and held Carfrae till 1839. In this year, Mr
William Wight, father of the present tenant, obtained the
'lease and held it till his death in 1868. George Wight, his
son, began his tenancy then, and still farms Carfrae, We
cannot refrain from remarking that the name of Wight
is one of the oldest in Upper Lauderdale, and it is also
one that in no instance is found with a shadow upon it. In
1650 William Wight was " elder and deacon " in Channel-
kirk Church. So also at the same time was Robert Wight.
The former was probably the "tenant in Glengelt," who
died in 1682, and whose tombstone stands in the south-
west corner of Channelkirk churchyard. There is a George
Wight, "elder," here in 1744, and probably the same person
who became tenant in Stobshiel Farm, and was buried from
there in this churchyard in 1756. The name has continued
in Upper Lauderdale to the present day, and has always
been held in the highest respect. (See chapter on " An-
tiquities " for other matters relating to Carfrae).

Headshaw

Headshaw was originally included in the lands of
Carfrae, but along with Medil, Midlie, or Middlemas, is
found to be a separate property in the fifteenth century.
The Sinclairs of Herdmanston must have been possessors
of its grounds from about 1 196, although it may not have
been a separate farm till much later. Its earliest mention

HE ADS HAW 421

as such is in 147 1. About that time it would appear to
have passed into the hands of Sir George Home of Wedder-
burn, and Sir Patrick Home of Polwart, as part dowry of
their respective wives, Marion and Margaret Sinclair,
daughters and co-heiresses of Sir John Sinclair of Herd-
manston, each of whom received half of Headshaw, Sir
George was the eldest of the " seven spears of Wedder-
burn," and fell with his father, Sir David, at the battle of
Flodden, 15 13.

" And when the sun was westering
On Flodden's crested height,
The Seven Spears of Wedderburn
Gave first shock in the fight."

On the 30th of June 1494 James Logan, who was then
tenant-laird of Headshaw, takes Sir George Home to law
" for the wrangwis spoliation, away-takeing, and withhalden
fra him out of the landis of Haitschaw of XIX oxin,
and for costis and scathis. Baith the saidis pairties beeind
personally present, it wes allegiit be the said George and the
advocatis of our souvraine lord that the saidis landis of
Haitschaw wer in our sovrane lordis handis be the non-entry
of John Edmonston of that Ilk to the superiority of the
samyn landis of Haitschaw, and that the said oxin wer taken
for a parte of the malez and proffitis thereof The lordis
of Consale therefore ordinis the said James Logane to
summonde the said Johnne of Edmonstone to the VIII
day of Oct. nixt to come with quotacioun of dais to produce
and preif his entra to the superiority of the saidis landis :
and also to summonde him for the dampnage, costis, and
scathis that the said James sustenis in his default."*

* Acta Dominorum Concilii.

422 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

The entire dispute was about non-entry to the
superiority. This is a law-term which would be far better
explained by a lawyer, but we venture to offer the follow-
ing. In the original grant of Carfrae Estate by William
de Morville to Henry de Saintclair, his Sheriff, the service
of one knight was made the condition of holding it. Sir
George Home of Wedderburn having received Headshaw,
which seems to have been then the half of a property of
which Midlie may have been the other half, became
superior of Headshaw or tenant-in-chief under " ouf sovrane
lord" the King. The above John Edmonston of Edmon-
ston was evidently vassal to Sir George, or heir of the
vassal who held Headshaw under Sir George's superiority,
and John Logan again feued under John of Edmonston.
To have a legal right to Headshaw John Edmonston
should have acknowledged the superior, Sir George, by
entering with him, that is, accepting a charter which sub-
stituted him as vassal in room of his ancestor, or the
person whose heir he was. This he had failed to do, and
so, by law, the superior was entitled to take possession
of the lands and levy the rents to the exclusion of John
Edmonston of that Ilk. This was called the casualty of
non-entry.* But poor John Logan was between two fires
Sir George and Edmonston, who both demanded the rents
or "malez." He seems to have paid to Edmonston, the
mid-superior, and thus felt aggrieved that Sir George
should pay himself with his nineteen oxen independently,
and so went to law. Edmonston was adjudged in the
wrong, and ordered to make good the value of the
"dampnage, costis, and scathis" which he had sustained,
and the case continued Logan is back in Court again
* Juridical Styles, pp. 7, 354. Fifth Edition.

HEADSHAW 423

in July of 1494 complaining, but seems to make no head-
way. If we are not mistaken this John Edmonston of
that Ilk is the same person who marries Margaret Maitland,
daughter to William Maitland of Thirlestane and Lething-
ton, in 1496.* On the i8th July of that year he resigns
"half the lands of Hetschawe in Lauderdaile," which
are thus thrown on the hands of Hume of Polwarth. f
The lawsuit had evidently been too annoying to all con-
cerned in it.

Headshaw, in the barony of Carfrae, is granted to
David Home in 1506, and in 1550 is noticed as paying
;^20 from " half Headshaw " to the Sheriff of Berwick. J

On the 1 8th March 1594 (retoured 25th Oct. 1599),
Patrick Home of Polwart and all his masculine heirs
whomsoever bearing the name and arms of Home, are con-
firmed by charter of novodamus in Polwart, Reidbrayis,
Hardenis, etc., and half the lands of Hetschaw in Lauder-
dale. § Three years later, at Falkland, 1 2th September
1597, the King confirms the other half of Hetschaw on the
common of Carfrae to Sir George Home of Wedderburn,
and while he does so he recalls Sir George's good services
to himself from his (the King's) childhood, and also the
weighty services rendered by his ancestors, ''who were
almost all slain in battling for the King's ancestors and
fighting under their banner for their crown and the freedom
of the kingdom." || (The property was retoured under
date 7th April 1590.)

This charter gives half Headshaw to Sir George's wife,
Jean Halden, in liferent, and the same to his son David
in fee.

* Douglas's Peerage^ vol. ii., p. 6. t threat Seal.

X Exchequer Rolls. § Great Seal. || Ibid.

424 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

In 1611 Sir Patrick Home of Polvvart is retoured heir
of his father Sir Patrick in (among others) half the lands
of Headshaw ; and in 1650, on 17th May, the famous Sir
Patrick Hume, his son and entailed heir, is retoured in
the same possession. From the earliest account we can
find of Headshaw, the following Homes or Humes, down
to the last-mentioned date, have been connected with
it:—

Sir Patrick Home, Polwart, about 1450.

Alexander Home (his son), about 1503.

Patrick Home „ „ 1532.

Patrick Home „ „ 1536.

Sir Patrick Home „ „ 1587.

Sir Patrick Home „ „ 1611.

Sir Patrick Home „ „ 1641-1724.

The last name is so well written in the history of the
country that it is unnecessary to give here more than a
mere outline of his career. The eldest son, he lost his
father when seven years old, and his education devolved
upon his mother Christian, daughter of Alexander Hamilton
of Innerwick. He represented Berwick in Parliament in
1665 ; soon became an object of aversion and jealousy to
Lauderdale ; was several times imprisoned ; hid himself in

1684 in Polwart Church vault, and fled to the Continent ;
had sentence of forfeiture passed upon him on 22nd May

1685 ; returned with the Prince of Orange, 5th November
1688, under whose star his fortunes brightened. His
forfeiture was rescinded by Parliament, 22nd July 1690 ;
he was made a member of the Privy Council, also Lord
Polwarth in the same year ; Extraordinary Lord of Session
in 1693, Bailiff of Lauderdale in 1694, Lord High Chan-
cellor of Scotland in 1696, in which character he comes

HEADSHAW 425

before the Channelkirk people in rather dubious light in
the matter which is treated in Chapter VII on "The
V^acancy." He was created Earl of Marchmont by King
William, 23rd April 1697, though he would have preferred
to be Earl of March, as being a lineal descendant of the
ancient Earls of the Merse. He died in 1724 in his own
house at Berwick, and was buried in the vault of Polwarth,
where he once hid from his persecutors.*

He was the eighth of the barons of Polwarth, whose
residence, Redbraes, was afterwards called Marchmount, a
name which belonged of old to Roxburgh Castle : The
Merse-Mount. He was married to Grissell, daughter of
Sir Thomas Ker of Cavers, 29th January 1660, lived with
her forty-three years, and had seventeen children. Grissell,
born 24th December 1665, was his famous daughter, Lady
Grissell Baillie, who as a maid of eighteen in 1683 carried
food to him in Polwart vault. He was first Episcopalian,
then Presbyterian, and to the Prince of Orange and to
the Presbyterian cause, which his party espoused, he owed
his successful career and ennoblement. Hence the crowned
Orange is a familiar object at Marchmont.-f

It renders our account of Headshaw agreeably brief,
when we can say that it has continued in the possession
of the Marchmont House down to the present day. Its
name, sometimes spelled Heathshaw, lends colouring to
the view that Headshaw Hill and surrounding ground was
at one time covered with wood, or natural " shaw." Its
elevation gives it an extensive sweep of all Lauderdale,
which, together with the Eildons in the distance, is beheld
to an enjoyable degree from this point of vantage. Planted

* Senators of the College of Justice.

+ Miss Warrender's Homes of Marchmount.

426 HISTORY OF CHANNELKlRK

on a steep hillside which from the level of 770 feet
climbs abruptly to 960, it has many disadvantages both
for pedestrians and farm traffic. All the roads reach it
after many windings. The area of land farmed comprises
721 acres, mostly of light soil, and on the six-shift rotation:
300 acres in tillage, 389 moorland, and 32 in pasture.
There are now 13 souls on the place; good old Mr and
Mrs Blaikie, so long farming there, having but recently
been laid to rest in Channelkirk churchyard — a worthy
and much missed couple. The present owner is Sir John
Purves Hume Campbell, Bart., of Marchmont.

It speaks volumes for good settled government, the
strength of the law, and the binding influences of good
family, that the same bounds given by William de Mor-
ville to Carfrae lands, on the west, should still to-day be
the same march of Headshaw. The Leader Water, as
Headshaw Burn seems to have been then called, still
marks the boundaries between Glengelt and Headshaw
as distinctly as on that day, somewhere about the year
1 196, when the High Constable of Scotland described
them to Sir Henry de Sinclair, Sheriff of Lauderdale.
Well may the poet sing: —

"It is the land that freemen till,

That sober-suited Freedom chose ;
The land, where girt with friends or foes
A man may speak the thing he will ;

A land of settled government,
A land of just and old renown,
Where Freedom slowly broadens down

From precedent to precedent.

If Headshaw and Midlie were ever united as one property,
as we have hinted, they were again separate in 1632. Sir

HERNIECLEUCH 427

John Sinclair of Herdmanston's lands of Carfrae included
those of Midlie within them at that time, and they remain so
still.

We have seen that the earliest mentioned tenant-laird
was James Logan, who entered Headshaw in 1466.* In
163 1 "Thomas Markell in Headschaw" is down at Lauder on
the 7th day of January, giving his evidence before the Sub-
Commissioners' Court, held there in the " Tolbuth," as to the
worth and rent of Glengelt Farm and others.-j" Old James
Richardson, tenant in Kirktonhill, who had seen sixty years,
was down along with him. James Watherston was tenant
till 1736. James Somervail is tenant in 1752. In 1764 we
see him busy " calling sand " to the manse, for which he is
paid £2.1 No doubt he would be related to the "James
Somervail " who was then in Airhouse. A Mr Cockburn
appears to have been farmer in 1774. In the early years of
this century, Andrew Shiels was tenant — he had farmed also
in Glengelt — and was followed in Headshaw by his son, who
did not succeed well. From being shepherd on Mr Shiel's
farm the late Robert Blaikie became tenant, and his son-
in-law, Mr Booth, now fills the vacant place. Headshaw
people, with the exception of the workmen, attend the U.P.
Church at Blackshiels.

HERNIECLEUCH

Herniecleuch may have derived its name from being a
haunt of the heron, or may be a transposed spelling of Henry-
cleuch ; but it is more likely to be derived from the Anglo-
Saxon hyrne, a corner or neuk. Chaucer speaks of " lurking

* Acta Dominorum Concilii.

t Channelkirk Teind Case. Teind Office, Edinburgh.

X Kirk Records.

428 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

in hemes and in lanes blind," and the situation of the place
on Kelphope " Burn " answers such a description admirably.
In Blaeu's Atlas of 1654 the order of places ascending the
Kelphope Water is Hillhouse^ Herniecleuch, Hasildene. There
are many trees growing near the spot where it stood, imme-
diately at the foot of the Dod House Hill. In 1610 it was
owned by William Home, who acquired in that year the
village and lands of Oxton from John, Lord Saltoun.
William was servitor to Alexander, Earl of Home, Lord
Jedburgh, and Dunglass. It seems never to have been large
in area, and in 1627 is noted as being " in stok fourscoir lib. ;
personage, 10 lib. ; viccarage, 20 merkis." In 1630, Hernie-
cleuch and Hasildeane are said to be each in worth ;i^ioo ;
from which we may judge that both places were alike in
extent, as well as neighbours. Being in " Carfrae barony,"
it was in the superiority of the Sinclairs of Herdmanston, and
in 1 69 1 the "Locality" of that date includes all the places
on Kelphope Burn under that appellation. For the same
reason it is never mentioned except when documents relating
to Carfrae estate give the inventory. It was occupied as
late as 181 3, when one Trotter died there in March of that
year. He is a friend of the same who is noticed as being
buried from " Harniecleugh " on the 8th September 18 16, and
whose name was Alexander Trotter. From this date the
place seems gradually to have fallen into decay, and finally
became obliterated. The desire for large farms has operated
in the same way throughout the parish.

A story is told of " auld Willie Clark's faither," who was a
weaver in Herniecleuch, and who heard one night the
fairies play a tune which he learned and fiddled as " The
Balance o' Straw." The fairies are said to have had their
headquarters near Herniecleuch. He had been over the hill

HAZELDEAN 429

with a web, and was returning home when he got entangled
in the fairy enchantments ! But the tune has died away, and
it seems that fairy music has no greater immortality than that
of human beings. The web was perhaps a " drookit ane."
If so, the music is easily understood.

HAZELDEAN

The association of the name of this place with the shrub
or tree called the fiazel doubtless supplies us with a deriva-
tion which is sufficiently satisfactory. The " dean " refers,
we believe, to the long deep ravine to the immediate south
of Tollishill, at the mouth of which Haseldean, or Hazeldean,
seems to have been situated. It is now extinct, but traces
of its wall-foundations are yet apparent. It has no connec-
tion with Scott's famous song, "Jock o' Hazeldean." It
comes into view first in 1617. On the 17th December of
that year, James Haig, Bemersyde, is served heir to Robert
Haig, his father, in the " lands of Hissildans, in the barony of
Hermestoune, lordship of Carfra." This owner of Haseldean
is interesting in several ways. He led a violent and erratic
life, and seems to have been reckless in his behaviour to all
who crossed his path. When we first become acquainted
with him as the proprietor of Haseldean he had but few
years to live, as he is said to have died about 1620, whether
travelling in Germany or at home, it is not known. An
incident in which he was chief actor, and which combined
both comic and tragic elements, has already been referred to
under " Carfrae." John Knox was tenant in Hissildoune in
1631.

In 1627 it is valued "in stok 200 merkis ; personage, 20
merkis ; viccarage, 40 merkis." Thomas Thomson was
tenant in " Hizeldean" in 1664, and the key of the poor's

430 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

box of Channelkirk Church is entrusted to his care, while
the teacher keeps the box itself. There are few references
to the place itself, and its individuality is obscured all down
the centuries, under the greater name of Carfrae. In 1800 it
was farmed by Edmund Bertram. His memory is yet green
in the parish, and it seems he was much esteemed. His
obliging disposition, and unfailing kindness to the poor, made
him a prime favourite, and it is remembered that when his
corn needed to be harvested, the villagers used to flock to his
place to render him the necessary assistance. He was buried
in Channelkirk on the 31st August 18 17. He died on the
27th, aged seventy-two. The family tombstone says of him,
" late tenant of Hazeldean." His father, Peter Bertram, had
farmed Hazeldean before him. His wife, Janet Watson, died
when she was but thirty-six, on i6th November 1758, and he
himself on 2nd August 1782, aged seventy-six. The tomb-
stone in Channelkirk churchyard is the centre one of three,
the eastmost, which stand on the south side of the path which
leads to the church door from the east gate. Edmund was
one of the signatories to a petition, presented by Chaimelkirk
parishioners in March 18 16, to have the church removed to
Oxton.

Our last sight of Hazeldean is in 1841, when Adam
Armstrong, labourer, is reported on the " Roll of the Male
Heads of Families" belonging to Channelkirk Church, as
dwelling there. One Johnston was the last tenant. We pre-
sume that the place soon afterwards became a ruin, and dis-
appeared.

Friarsknowes : Freersnose : " The Noss."

Under the shadow of Lammer Law, at the head of
Kelphope Burn, in the loneliest spot of the parish, stands

FRIARSKNOWES 431

Friarsknowes. The name proclaims its own meaning and
has the sound of ancient days in it. But " The Noss "
seems to have been its earliest appellation. In the will of
Alexander Sutherland, Dunbeath, Caithness, we have
among those in his debt — " Item, the Lord of Hyrdmanston
XX lib. the quhilkis, gif he payis nocht sal ryn apon the
landis of Noss." This was in 1456. {Bannatjne Miscellany.)
It is commonly pronounced locally " The Nose " or " Freers-
nose," and we have here unmistakably the Old English
" Frere," Friar ; and, the " nose " which appears in so many
place-names as " ness," meaning promontory or headland.
The earliest spelling of the name in its present forms, so
far as we know, is Frierneise in 1627. Friarness is about
the same time, and although " knowes " (knolls) might
seem the more appropriate, the obvious meaning is evidently
" nose," or " ness ;" the " nese " of Piers Plowman. Instances
where " ness " ; is applied to inland places situated on
waters similar to " Friarness " are found in Crichness on
Bothwell Water, Haddington, and Coltness on South Calder
Water, Lanark. Of course, the term is usually found
attached to points of land, small or great, running into the
sea, as Fife Ness or Caithness.

Whatever it may have been in bygone times, Friars-
knowes is now a single cottage, usually occupied by a
shepherd, and is necessary as a centre for the broad tract
of sheep-walk which stretches far and wide along the sides
of Lammer Law, the highest of the Lammermuir range
of hills. At present it is untenanted.

The minister of Channelkirk says of it in 1627 : " Frier-
neise, holding of Ecles, in stok fowrscoir lib., personag 6
lib., viccarage ten merkis," or in stock it was worth
£^, 13s. 4d., in parsonage teind los., and in vicarage teind

432 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

IIS. ifd. money sterling. "Of Ecles" means in all likeli-
hood, "of the Laird of Eccles." As late as 1781 the Earl
of Marchmont gets resignation ad remanentiam on pro-
curatory resignation in disposition by Sir John Patterson
of Eccles, of the lands of Kelphope, the neighbouring
lands of Friarsknowes, and in the same barony of Carfrae.*
The Lairds of Eccles seem to have held Friarsknowes on
the same footing at an earlier date. It has long been the
property of the Most Noble the Marquis of Tweeddale. It
is at present farmed by Mr Dickinson, Longcroft, by Lauder.

Fairnielees

We do not doubt that the name of this place is primarily
derived from the fern plant, which must always have been
abundant in its neighbourhood, and is yet plentiful enough
to the present day. The Anglo-Saxon of " fern " is /earn,
and it evinces the conservation of sounds when we have
this place-name pronounced fairn in the earliest example
which we have been able to find. In 1627 the minister of
the parish declares " Fairnielies " to be worth " in stok
200 merkis, personage 20 lib., viccarage xl merkis." " Lies,"
" lees," or " lie," is, of course, the Old English lay, sward-land,
so familiar in Burns's

" I'll meet thee on the /ea-ng."

and in Gray —

" The lowing herd wind slowly o'er the /ea."

Fairnielees stands 1076 ft. above sea-level, on a steep
broad upland rising away from Hillhouse Burn, and com-
mands an extensive view of the borderland. The lands
* G. R., 389, 189.

HILLHOUSE 433

are almost entirely pasture-ground for sheep, and the
dwelling is now, as it seems ever to have been, the
shealing of the shepherd who tends them. " Phairnielees,"
in 1630, is noticed as worth "ii'= merkis." In 1631 the
teind worth was put at one half bole of bear and four teind
lambs, with two pounds of wool to each lamb, price of each
lamb with the wool being 33s. 4d. Scots, or 2s. 9yVc1- sterling.
From having been, from the beginning, under Carfrae
barony, its individuality is never very conspicuous, and its
name does not occur frequently in the usual channels of
information. Its history is practically stated in that of
Carfrae. In 1788, and in 18 16, it is mentioned among the
Marquis of Tweeddale's properties as "Fairnielee." As yield-
ing teind money to the Kers of Morriestoun it is mentioned
in 1676 as " Fairnielees," in 1687 as " Fairniliey," and in
1692 as " Fernielees." It is now included in the farm of
Hillhouse.

HiLLHOUSE

" Hillhouse quhilk perteines to the Laird of Herdmies-
stoune," " ane chaplanrie of Hermeisstoune in stok 400 merkis,
personage 50 merkis, viccarage 50 merkis." This is the
minister's statement regarding it in 1627. He describes
it as one of the kirk lands in his parish. When Sir John
Sinclair of Herdmanston built a chapel at Carfrae, these
lands of Hillhouse had, to all appearance, been set aside
for its endowment. But at what time it came into exist-
ence under its present name it were hard to affirm. It
has always been under Carfrae barony, and was included
originally in Carfrae lands, and has constantly had the same
owners. Its teind rent was before both Sub-Commissioners
and High Commissioners in 1630 and i63i,and was valued

2 E

434 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

then. Half of this rent was drawn by the Kers of
Morrieston, and at various periods, such as in 1676, 1687,
and 1692, this fact is retoured, and Hillhouse is named.
It is called " a very considerable farm" in 1784. In i8cx)
Archibald Somerville was its tenant, who also farmed
" Elsinford " on the other side of Lammer Law. He lived
in the latter place for most part, and at the time when
the country was roused over the proposed Napoleonic
Invasion, and bands of yeomanry were called out, he
courageously took the field, a leading spirit, and is yet
remembered for the " langitch " he applied to the laggards
and less patriotic ! He died in December of 1821. Robert
Kelly was his steward in Hillhouse for a long time. The
next tenant was Alexander Taylor. He died at Pathhead
Ford. Mr Dickinson, Longcroft, succeeded in the tenancy,
and during that time, as mentioned above, it has been a
" led " farm. The farmhouse stands 800 ft. above sea-level,
but the Camp Hill close to the northwards of it shoots
up to 1000, and half-a-mile still further north. Ditcher Law
reaches the height of 1202 ft. It is pleasantly situated
between Kelphope and Hillhouse Burns, which meet on
the lower ground a little to the south, before they join the
Leader at Carfrae Mill. A considerable portion of the
farm is ploughed. There are twenty souls on the place.
The interesting camp in the immediate neighbourhood is
noticed in Chapter XX HI on "Antiquities."

Kelphope

This place appears to derive its name from the Gaelic
cailpeach, calpach, colpacJi, a heifer, steer, colt ; colpa, a cow
or horse. In Scotch mythology the cailpeach was an
imaginary spirit of the waters, horselike in form, which

KELPHOPE 435

was believed to warn, by sounds and lights, those who were
to be drowned. There is a slight tendency also to alter
any name to "hope" which has the least sound similar to
it. Langild^ Langat, Langhope^ in this parish is one instance.
" Hope," of course, js common through all the Borders in
place-names. It was part, originally, of the Carfrae estate,
and was probably a croft or farm about the close of the
fifteenth century, when all the neighbouring places lying on
the Mossburn (now Kelphope Water) came into existence.
Patrick Levingtoun of Saltcottis, heir of Patrick Levingtoun,
his father, holds Kelphope lands in 1613.* In 1627 it is
noted as being in value " in stok 300 merkis, personage 20
lib., viccarage xl lib." Robert Dodds is tenant there in
1630, and makes declaration that it is worth only 250
merks. Alexander Levingtoun de Saltcoats, heir of Patrick
Levingtoun de Saltcoats, his father, is retoured in the lands
of Kelphope in the lordship of Carfrae, bailiary of Lauder-
dale, on the 14th May 1640.^ George Levingtoun, his
heir, obtains them i6th November 1657.J In 1683 another
Alexander Livingtoune de Saltcoats is retoured heir of
George Levingtoune de Saltcoats, his father, in the same
lands. They are in Livingtoune's pos.session in 1691, and
seem to have remained with that family until purchased by
the Rev. Henry Home, minister at Channelkirk about
1725. § On 30th April 1723 he acquired the just and equal
half of the Kelphope teinds from Andrew Ker of Morieston,
and was taken bound to contribute certain " money pay-
able furth of the said lands to the Lords of Session," and
a " proportional payment of the expense for repairing and

* Retours. f Ibid.

X General Register of Sasines, fol. 316, vol, xiii.
\ Decreet of Locality, p. 151.

436 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

upholding the quire, or of the third part of the Kirk of
Channelkirk, or kirk dykes," and " others " more particularly
mentioned in the said disposition.* George Hall was its
tenant then, and James Miller an indweller. When Mr
Home died in 175 1, the property came into the hands
of his son-in-law, William Eckford, and he is assessed for
the minister's stipend in 1752. He died in 1764. Hugh,
Earl of Marchmont, appears to have acquired Kelphope
about 1780, and on 15th September 1781 gets Resignation
ad Rem. on Proc. Resig. in Disp. by Sir John Patterson
of Eccles. Kelphope still remains with the House of
Marchmont. Mr Patterson was tenant about the close
of this century. George Brown, Chesters, followed. After
him Mr Lyal came in, then Mr Taylor, and in our time
Walter Stobie, whose widow now farms it.

The rent of the farm at present is ^153 per annum,
and that of the farmhouse £\2. It is one of the most
remote places in Channelkirk parish, lying towards Lammer
Law, on the Kelphope Water, and is rather inaccessible
during winter, owing to flooding and snowstorms. In
Blaeu's Atlas (1654) "Kelfhoope" is placed on the east
side of Kelphope Burn, and at this date the house may
have been so situated. It is now on the west side.

Kelphope lies at the foot of Tollishill, a place which,
though not in Channelkirk parish, should not be left
unnoticed. The same tenant has sometimes farmed both
places, the Kelphope Water being the dividing line between
them. Tollishill at the end of last century came into
possession of George BroVn, Chesters, who, after Mr
Patterson's death (his uncle), obtained the leases of Tollis-
hill and Kelphope. He ploughed up and sowed with crop

*Sasines, 1725,

KELPHOPE 437

a considerable part of land on the former place, and
incurred the displeasure of the Marquis of Tweeddale for
so doing. He was taken to the Court of Session, and
ultimately to the House of Lords, over the affair, but
gained his case in both instances, and was awarded
expenses also.

Tullius' Hill, as it is sometimes called ; " Tullis, Over
and Nether" of the charters, has an ancient record in the
camp or fort of the " British " denomination in its vicinity.
But it is best known in the story which comes down to
us from the days of John, Duke of Lauderdale, amplified
and added to in Wilson's Tales of the Borders and
several other works, and which from its combination of
history and romance, wealth and poverty, the palace and
the cottage, national events and farm failures, has just
that touch of candle-light homeliness which gives to every
fireside tale of " lords and ladies gay " a witching fascina-
tion and a halo of truth.

In the stirring days of John, Duke of Lauderdale, one
of his tenants was Thomas Hardie, in Tullos Farm, on
Tullos or Tollis Hill. It was known also as the Midside
Farm. Mrs Hardie's maiden name was Margaret Lyleston,
the " Midside Maggie " of the Tales of the Borders. A
severe snowy season destroyed the flock, and Hardie
found himself at rent-time unable to " meet the factor."
Mrs Hardie courageously took the circumstances in hand,
and went personally to Thirlestane Castle to lay the
matter before the " Yirl." The great John, who had more
heart in him than he has been credited with, did not fail
to acknowledge the sincerity of the distress, and jocularly
bargained with " Maggie " to wipe out the rent score if
she would produce to him a snowball in June. Tollishill

438 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

cleuchs, jammed full of winter's snow, proved equal to this
condition, and with legal precision Maggie carried the
snowball duly tot he castle and obtained relief By-and-by,
fortune kicked the ball the other way, and while the
Hardies afterwards prospered, Lauderdale, following the
Royalist cause, found himself a prisoner in 1651, and
lodged in the Tower of London. But the honest hearts
in Tollishill did not consider themselves free from their
obligations, though the " Yirl's " back was at the wa', and
steadily every year laid past the rent due to him. The
heroic wife, out of gratitude and sympathy over her fallen
lord, then baked the rent total of gold pieces in a bannock,
carried them to London, and conveyed them to the hands
of the imprisoned Earl. Many days passed away, and
Lord Lauderdale was released, and in course of time
returned to his castle on Leader Water. He, it is said,
soon sought out the leal tenants of the Midside Farm, and
presented the noble Maggie with a silver girdle, and at
the same time granted to her and her children to hold
the farm rent free for their lives, remarking that " every
bannock had its maik but the bannock of Tollishill."

The girdle and chain, after passing through many
hands, found a permanent resting place in the National
Museum of Antiquities, Edinburgh. (See Proceedings of
the Society of Antiquaries^ 1897-98, p. 195.)

Mr Patterson cultivated a considerable deal of Tollis-
hill land at one time, and kept two or three pairs of
horses. A Mr Usher also was tenant in it. His son John,
who also had it, was a favourite with Sir Walter Scott, as
he was somewhat of a poet, and the Great Wizard made
him a present of a pony. Usher was also tenant in
Quarryford Mill in Haddingtonshire.

KELPHOPE 439

There are four rough track roads across the Lammer-
moors to Carfraemill in this parish: — i. By Long Yester,
skirting the east side of Lammer Law, and passable for
gigs and carts ; 2. by Cairnie Haugh ; 3. by Longnewton
and Kidlaw ; and 4. by Stobshiels and Wanside. The
first two pass TolHshill steading.

CHAPTER XV

THE BARONIES — Continued

Hartside.— Glengelt

Hartside, the Name — Early Proprietors — Extent of Land — House of
Seton — Nether Hartside — Clints — Over Hartside — Trinity College
and the Superiority of Hartside and Clints — The Riddells of Haining
— Barony of Hartside^ — Hepburn of Humbie — Hope of Hopetoun —
Henryson — Dalziel — Borthwick of Crookston — Lord Tweeddale —
The Original Hartside — Barony of Glengelt — The Name — The
Veteriponts and Mundevilles — The Lord Borthwick — Raid of
Glengelt — Lawless Lauderdale — Hepburn of Humbie — The Ed-
monstons — Sleigh — Cockburn — Robertson — Mathie — Hunter —
Borthwick of Crookston — Tenants — The Den.

The name of Hartside, like that of the parish, has descended
to the present generation somewhat transformed from its
origmal shape. The earliest spelling is " Hertesheued."
It must not be confounded with the " Hertesheued " which,
in old writings, is often mentioned with Spott, Haddington.
It means Hart's Head, i.e., the head of the hart (Lat. cervus).
The Old English of " heart " is " harte " or " herte," and from
the latter we might suppose " Hertes-heued " to have been
derived. But in the twelfth century it seems the genitive
of Heartshead was " herten-heued," not " hertesheued," being
feminine. The name was originally, therefore, " Hartshead,"
and " Hart-side " is a corruption. The latter, indeed, does
not come into use until two or three hundred years after

HARTSIDE 441

the time when " Hertesheued " is found. The name is
first noticed about 1189A.D. We obtain it from the charter
which follows : — " Charter whereby William de Morvill,
constable of the King of Scotland, grants and confirms to
William de Hertesheued the whole land which Heden and
Hemming held in Hertesheued, viz., on the east side of
the road from Wedale to Derestre (te), to be holden by him
and his heirs of the hospital of the Holy Trinity at Soltre,
and the brethren thereof, in fee and heritage, as the charter
of the Procurator of Soletre and of the brethren of the same
place bears witness, saving always the service due to the
granter. Witnesses — Christiana, spouse of the granter,
Ketell de Letham, William Mansell, Henry de Sainclair,
Alan de Thirlestane, Peter de la Hage, Albinus, the chap-
lain, Richard de Nith, Duncan, son of Earl Duncan, Ingeram
Haring, Richard Mansell, Alan de Clephan."* We give
the writing in full, because it is necessary for a clear under-
standing of its several facts. William de Morville was the
last of the De Morville house who was Lord of Lauderdale.
As possessor of the lands of Hertesheued, as of nearly all
Lauderdale for that matter, he was " Superior," and the
Hospital of Soutra the " Mid-superior," and William of
Hertesheued was ' to hold his lands of both, paying rent or
other dues to the Hospital, while the " service due to the
granter" probably meant military service. It is clear that
De Morville had granted the lands to the Hospital, so that
they could derive benefit from them, and the Hospital had
granted a charter of the lands to William of Hartside, to
be held of them for certain dues, and their charter is here
confirmed by De Morville in the above writ. The De
Morville interest ceased with national changes, but nothing
♦Original Charters, No. 12, vol. i. Register House, Edinburgh.

442 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

leads us to suppose that the Hospital ever afterwards re-
linquished their rights in Hartside.

But William of Hartside was preceded in the proprietary
by Heden and Hemming, and the names at once point to
a Norse origin ; and when we remember that the village
name is also derived from a Norse source, it becomes evident
that before this time of transference of the Hartside lands,
Upper Lauderdale had mostly been in the hands of men
of Scandinavian descent. It is, of course, quite conceivable
that these descendants of Norsemen might have come into
Lauderdale under the patronage of the Saxon De Morvilles,
but it is more feasible to suppose that as Berwickshire
was often raided by these sea-rovers, a- few of them had
settled down in the quiet uplands of the dale of Leader
during the immediately preceding centuries, and by-and-by
had yielded in their turn to the superior forces which were
swayed by the Saxons.

The extent of property which is here set forth is rather
a matter of difficulty to us. " The whole land ... on the
east side of the road from Wedale to Derestre " is vague
enough. " Wedale " is traditionally derived, according to
competent writers like Dr Skene and Prof Veitch, from
the great battle, so disastrous to the Saxons, which was
fought between them and King Arthur's army, between
Heriotwater and Lugate. The vale of " wae " it ever after-
wards meant to the inhabitants of that district, and seems
to have been applied two or three centuries later to the
whole Gala valley. " Derestre," which we conclude can
only mean " Derestrete " with part of the name deleted
in the charter, was the well-known road or street which
ran to Deira, one of the divisions of Northumbria. This
'' street " has been considered as the " Roman Road,"

HARTSIDE 443

" Malcolm's Rode," and the " Royal Road," which under
the second and third of these appellations is frequently
mentioned in connection with Lauderdale and Soutra law
documents of the twelfth century. It is reputed to have
passed through Old Lauder, thence to Blackchester, thence
to Channelkirk Church, and thence across Soutra Hill.
The road from Wedale to this Roman Road, therefore, was
one connecting the valley in the neighbourhood of Heriot
and Lugate with the road crossing Soutra Hill. This road
seems to have taken the course of the Armet Water in a
general outline running from the Gala Water to the place
which is now called the Soutra Isle, the ancient " Hospital
of the Holy Trinity of Soltre." The " whole land " to the
east of this road would consequently mean what is generally
considered to this day as " the lands of Hartside and Glints."
It is to be observed that the eastern limits of these chartered
lands are not given, probably because the other properties
which were to be encountered on that side were too well
defined by that time to require further description. Glengelt
lands and Ghannelkirk Ghurch lands were the only possible
boundaries on the east of them, and these seem to have
been distinctly understood even before 1189 A.D. These
lands, then, if we are correct in so understanding the charter,
were to be " holden by William and his heirs, of the Hospital "
of Soltre, " as in their charter to the said William." Charters
appear to have been necessary from both superiorities,
the secular and the sacred, in order to security of tenure.
William of Hartside thus held of De Morville, but he also
held by charter of the brethren of Soltre Hospital. In like
manner, in olden times, feu-duties were wont to be collected
separately by both secular and sacred superiorities. This
William of Hartside is styled " William Albus de Herset,"

444 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

" de Hertished," " de Hertishevit," etc., in the charters of
the " Domus de Soltre," from about 1189 till about 125a*
Richard de Hertesheued, presumably son of William,
witnesses to charters ranging between the dates 1238- 1300,
and about the year 1327, in the reign of King Robert the
Bruce, we have the following : —

" Charter whereby Alan de Hertesheued, son and heir
of the late Richard de Hertesheued, grants to Sir Alexander
de Seton, the father, lord of that ilk, that toft and croft and
these two oxgates of land in the territory of Ulkistoun,
which the granter holds of Thomas, the son of William de
Colilau : To be holden, de vie, for payment of one penny
yearly, if asked only, and delivering or paying to the said
Thomas for all services, one pair of gloves or one penny
at the feast of St James the Apostle." i* A renunciation of
ane arent of 4 merkis be Allan de Hartishweid, son of
Richard de Hartishweid, in favour of Mark of Clephane, is
also noted by John, Earl of Lauderdale, as being among
his papers.^: Allan de Hertesheued witnesses in many
charters in the Liber de Calchou (Kelso).

Until the days of King Robert the Bruce, therefore, the
proprietors of Hartside were : —

1. Heden and Hemming (of Norse descent).

2. William DE Hertesheued (aV. 1189— aV. 1250).

3. Richard de Hertesheued {cir. 1238— «>. 1270).

4. Alan de Hertesheued, son of Richard {cir. 1327).

The dates are not those of birth or death, but of charters in which
their names are found.

It has been pointed out that Hartside lands, in the days of
Heden and Hemming, appear to have marched with the
Armet Water on the west. It is a probable confirmation

* Domus de SoUre. f Original Charters, No. gS, vol. i.

X Scotch Acts, vii., p. 153.

HARTSIDE 445

of this that the moss on the tableland of Soutra from which
the Armet rises is called Hens Moss. For just as words
like Wednesday become, in pronunciation, Wensday, so
Hedens Moss, in colloquialism, becomes Hens Moss. Hedeti,
again, is likely to have been short for Healf-dene ; in
Northumbrian, Halfdene, meaning Half-Dane, i.e., of Saxon
and Danish parentage.

Our next view of the lands of Hartside shows them to
be possessed by the House of Seton. The reign of King
Robert the Bruce brought great changes to the landowners
of Scotland. All, or nearly all, who had supported the
claims of the kings of England to the Scottish throne were
forfeited, and at this time the family who so long had held
Hartside from the De Morvilles seem to have shared a like
fate. The Setons espoused Bruce's cause, and were richly
rewarded.

The Setons, as the last quoted charter sets forth, were
first proprietors in Channelkirk parish by possession of
houses and land in Oxton territory (probably Heriotshall
now), granted by Alan of Hartside, who held again from
Thomas of Collielaw. It is now impossible, perhaps, to say
whether Hartside had been purchased by Sir Alexander
Seton, or that the lands came to him through forfeiture of
Alan de Hartside. Sir Alexander was the son of King
Robert the Bruce's sister, and he had, therefore, the King
himself for his uncle, and it is conceivable that where so
many favours were being dispensed to King Robert's
followers, the near connections of the throne would not be
overlooked. We know that in 1342 all Lauderdale was
in the hands of William, Lord Douglas,* who obtained it
through Lord Hugh, who, again, was brother and heir to
* Robertson's Index of Charters,

446

HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

the " Good Lord James." Through the Douglasses Hart-
side may have been negotiated to the Setons, who received
the lands of Tranent, Fawside, and Niddrie, which Alan
de la Suche had forfeited. Seton, Winton (Latinised form
of Winchester), and Winchburgh had, of course, been in
their hands for, perhaps, a hundred and fifty years before.

Sir William Seton, who was killed in the battle of
Verneuil, in Normandy, 1424, was directly descended from
two, perhaps three, generations of Sir Alexander Setons, of
whom Alexander Seton, " the father " in the above charter,
was the first* Sir William had an only son, George, who is
the first Seton said to hold Hartside and Glints. Sir
William was created a peer, and was the first Lord Seton.
His son George, Lord Seton, is confirmed by the King in
the lands of " Hertished and Clentis " on 8th January
i458-59.-|* We note that this is the first time we meet
with Glints.

" This Lord George, first of that name, efter the deid of
his first wyf, dochter of the erle of Buchan, mareit the secund
wyf, callit Dame Christiane Murray, dochter to the lard of
Telibardin, qha had na successioun." " And efter that he
had levit lang time ane honorable lyf he deyit, of gud age,
in the place of the Blak freiris of Edinburgh, quhair he
lyis, in the queir of the samin. To quhom he foundit
XX markis of annuell, to be tane of Hartsyd and the
Clyntis." +

His death took place on the 15th day of July 1478. It
is said of him that " he was all given to nobleness." This

* Douglas's Peerage. See also Dalrymple's Annals^ vol. iii. Creech,
Edinburgh, 1797.

f Great Seal.

XHistorie of the Hous of Seytoun, by Sir Richard Maitland, p. 33,
See also Knox's Works, vol. i., p. 238, note.

HARTSIDE 447

gift of 20 merks of annual rent from " the lands of Hertis-
hede and of Clyntis, with the pertinents lying within our
sheriffdom of Berwick," is again confirmed by King James
III. on 14th May 1473.*

The year of Lord George's death brings also into view
the Nether Hartside, which has continued down to our
time ; implying, of course, the existence of Over or Upper
Hartside in 1478. By his second wife, Christian Murray, he
had a daughter named Christian, who married Hugh Douglas
of Corehead, and her father settled on her Clints and a part
of Nether Hartside. Under date 26th January 1478-9, the
King confirms the charter of George, Lord Setoun, " and of
the feu-lands of Hertside," in which he conceded to Hugh
Douglas of Borg, and Christian, his spouse — the lands of
Clentis, extending to 12 merks, and three-fourths of the
lands of Nether Hartside, extending to 18 merks of land, in
Lauderdale, to be held in conjoint fee by them and their
heirs.f

It is also at this time that the name " HarVs-Ziead" begins
to lose that form, and merge into " Hartside," and it must
have been some time before this marriage that the original
" Hartshead " lands were broken up into Over and Nether
Hartside, and Clints, an arrangement which holds down to
the present time. Possibly, at this time. Over Hartside was
in other hands than those of the Setons ; or the other quarter
of Nether Hartside may have been retained for certain
reasons, and thus have begun the division of Hartside into
Nether and Over as separate places. They were for long
afterwards separate properties in separate hands. In 1607,
for example, this quarter of Nether Hartside is owned by
James Lawson of Humbie. He pays 15 marks feu-duty.J

* City Records of Edinburgh. f Great Seal. X Retours.

448 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

The superiority of Hartside seems to have passed
through an important change about this period. It has
been shown that William de Hertisheued, about 1 1 89, held
of Soutra Hospital by charter from the Master and Brethren
there. In 1462 Trinity College was founded near Edin-
burgh, and was endowed with all the belongings of Soutra
Hospital. The superiority of Hartside and Glints seems to
have been transferred with the rest, for these properties are
in the superiority of the city of Edinburgh to this day, and
we are at a loss to know how otherwise they could have
come to be so, unless through this channel. For the Trinity
College ultimately fell into the hands of the Edinburgh
magistrates, with all it held. Our view of the matter is, that
the superiority was in the possession of Soutra Brethren, and
from them, with all Soutra Hospital endowments, it passed
to Trinity College, and so with Trinity College it finally
rested with Edinburgh city.

Hartside and Clints were further fated to fall from the
possession of the Setons. The accession of Queen Mary
to the Scottish throne, together with the troubles of the
Reformation, brought many calamities to the high homes of
the realm. It is needless to say here that the Setons
espoused her cause, and suffered in her downfall. History,
novel and ballad, have said or sung the deeds and disasters
of those of the name of Seton. They were always true to
persons, but not so true to principles. After the battle of
Langside, it was the slaughter of so many of these and their
co-patriots, according to Scott, which induced in her final
despair and abandonment of all her hopes of queenly
honours. " I would not again undergo what I felt, when I
saw from yonder mount the swords of the fell horsemen of
Morton raging among the faithful Seytons and Hamiltons,

HARTSIDE 449

for their loyalty to their Queen — not to be Empress of all
that Britain's seas enclose." * It was at Seton Palace that
she and Bothwell " passed their tyme meryly," two days after
the murder of her husband, Darnley ; it was Lord Seton who,
along with her lover, George Douglas, and a few others
received her as she touched shore on escaping from Loch-
leven Castle, and it was to Castle Niddry, near Linlithgow,
belonging to Seton, where she first fled for safety ; and it
was from that haven of refuge she sent a messenger to the
English Court for help. The Setons of Queen Mary's time
do not, however, stand so high morally as they did as
patriots. Knox says, under the year I559,i" "The Lord
Seytoun, a man without God, without honestie, and often^
times without reasone," " maist unworthy of ony regiment
{^government. Lord Seton was Provost of Edinburgh) in ane
Weill rewlit commun-wealth."

George, the eldest son of George, fifth Lord Seton,
obtained charters of the lands of West Niddrie, Hartisheid,
and Clintis on 6th August 1554.} Hartside and Clints were
incorporated in the barony of West Niddrie, as the following
shows : —

"12 May 1607. — The King concedes to George, Master
of Winton — the Earl of Wintoun, with state and title of the
same, the lands, lordship, and barony of Seton and Wintoun
. . . the lands of Hartisheid and Clintis . . . and which, for
service, etc., the King de novo gives to the said George, ex-
tending to ;^83, old extend, viz., Seton and Winton to ;^I5,
Tranent to ;^20 . . . West Niddrie to ;^38, Hartisheid and
Clintis to ;^5 ... and incorporates the lands of Seton,
Winton, etc., in the constabulary of Haddington, into the

• The Abbot, chap, xxxviii. t Knox's Works, vol. ii., pp. 326, 431.
% Douglas's Peerage.

2 F

450 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

free barony and lordship of Seton . . . and the other lands
he incorporates into the free barony of West Niddrie." *

The Setons have again charters of these lands in 1619, "f*
but after this time we find Nether Hartside and Glints in
the possession of the Riddells of Haining, Selkirk. Over
Hartside is retoured in 1607 as belonging to James Lawson
of Humbie, A sasine, of date 20th March 1641, bears that
Glints of Niddrie, and Hartside, were given and conceded to
John Riddell, The Haining, and formerly to Andrew Riddell,
his father. In an old document belonging to the Kers of
Morriston, which was produced in the teind cases before
the Court of Session at the beginning of this century, and
copied partly into the Decreet of Locality still possessed by
the ministers of Ghannelkirk, it is declared that the " Laird
of Haining" pays teind for "his lands of Nether Hartside
and Glints" in 1632.]: The Riddells of that Ilk, according
to the following, seem to have possessed Hartside before they
were Riddells of Haining. " By decreet of the High Gom-
mission of this date, 22nd July 163 1, recorded in the new
Record (vol. v., p. — ) of this date, 19th December 1787, pro-
ceeding a summons at the instance of John, Earl of Mar, and
Alexander Granston of Morieston, equal heritable proprietors
of the teinds of the parish of Ghinglekirk, against Andrew
Riddell of that Ilk, heritable proprietor of the lands of Nether
Hartsyde and Clintis, it is found and declared 'that the
saidis landis of Nether Hartsyde,' ' may be worthe in yeirlie
constant rent of teynd in tyme coming, six bollis, twa firlottis
victual, twa pairt aittis, and third pairt beir. Lambs with
the wool thereof, estimate to 33s. 4d. by and attour the
vicarage and small teind drawn by the minister allenarlie.' "

* Great Seal. f Ibid.

X Decreet of Locality^ p. 141.

HARTSIDE 451

The mention of teinds leads us to note here that the tenant
of Hartside, Robert Pringle, in 1630 was one of the Sub-
Commissioners who sat in Lauder Tolbooth on the " tent of
December" of that year to adjust the teinds of the district.

The proprietors of The Haining, Selkirk, had long a
considerable stake in Channelkirk parish through the farms
above noted, and those of Collielaw and Airhouse. The
Riddells of Riddell first acquired The Haining in 1625 from
Laurence Scott, a scion of the family of Scotts. Andrew
Riddell, first of Haining, for whom it was bought by his
father, sat as M.P. for Selkirkshire 1639-40.* This is the
"Laird of Haining" of the Decreet of Locality. But his
father, "Andrew Riddell of that Ilk," was the purchaser
also of Hartside and Glints, and these lands must have been
in his right in 1631, at least, if not sometime before that
date. Walter Riddell, kinsman evidently of the Riddells of
Riddell and Haining, possesses at the same time (1631) the
whole lands of Oxton. f It may have been through him that
the "two husband lands of Ugston" (Heriotshall) afterwards
came to be in the "barony of Hartside." :{:

In 1627 the minister notes that " Neather Hairtsyde is
in stok 600 merkes, personage 80 merkis, viccarage 100
merkis. Glints is in stok 500 merkis, personage ^20,
viccarage ane 100 merkis. Over Hairtsyde is in stok 300
merkis, personage 20 merkis, viccarage 40 merkis. §

The successor of the above Andrew Riddell of Haining,
in Hartside and Glints, was John Riddell, The Haining, who
is retoured heir in 1643, ^ri^ died in 1696. || He was well
hated as a persecutor of the Covenanters. He married

* Acts v., p. 96. t Decreet of Locality^ p. 183.

X Sasines, 1728. § Reports on Parishes.

II Retours. See also History of Selkirkshire^ by Craig-Brown.

452 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

Sophia, third daughter of James, the fifth Pringle of
Torwoodlee, who again was brother to Walter Pringle of
Greenknowe, who lodged one night in Channelkirk when on
his way to Edinburgh prison for his zeal in the Covenanting
cause. He owned considerable property on Gala Water,
Bowland, Bowshank, and half of Windydoors, then belonging
to the Riddells. He was M.P. for Selkirkshire in 1655 and
in 1674. He does not seem to have increased the prosperity
of his estates. Perhaps the advent of the Prince of Orange
in 1688 may have shed an adverse influence over his
fortunes. When he was succeeded by Andrew Riddell, his
third son, the last of the Riddells of Haining, he found it
necessary to part with Haining in 1701 to Andrew Pringle
of Clifton, who bought it for his second son John, the Lord
Haining of the Court of Session of 1720. The last of these
Pringles parted with Haining by bequest to Professor
Andrew Seth Pringle Pattison in 1898. He now holds it.
In the year 1650 our own Kirk Records shed light on
the Riddells of Hartside. Among the first entries of that
year is the following : — " Patrick Haitly paid for drinking
and reproaching of Mr Riddell of Hartsyd on the 20th of
June, 56s."* Five years later there is "Robert Halliwell
being to be proclaimed for marrying Jennie Halliwell, con-
signed two dollars that the marriage should be consumat,
and that there should be no promiscuous dancing and
licentious piping, whilk two dollars were delivered to Alex.
Riddell in Hartsyde, July 8, 1655, to be kept till they should
be redelivered." He is noted as keeping the " collections "
all July and part of August of the same year, and in 1663
we find him named as an elder in Channelkirk. Hartside,
indeed, is one of the places in the parish which upheld, before

* Kirk Records.

HARTSIDE 453

this century, a praiseworthy reputation for resident tenants,
who were also esteemed in the church, and took a leading
place in it. It is not unlikely that this Alexander Riddell
was some near relative of the Riddells of Haining. He
and his wife are seised in the lands of Nether Hartside, 5th
December 1657. *

But Clints and Nether Hartside are found in the posses-
sion of John Borthwick, advocate, on 12th April 1659;
afterwards John Riddell of Hayning is seised in the lands
of Clints upon a precept of C.C. "be John Borthwick of
Hartsyde," 12th August 1661, and the latter is again seised
in " Hartsyde and Clints" in March 1665.

Over Hartside is always quite distinct as a property from
these.

On the 2 1 St November 1636 the King confirms the
charter of John Lawson of Humbie, in which he sells to
Master Adam Hepburne, servitor to Thomas, Earl of
Haddington (Lord Binning and Byres), the lands of Over
Hartsyde in the bailiary of Lauderdale. From Sir Adam
Hepburn of Humbie, Over Hartside was acquired in 1642
(13th September date of disposition) f by Mr Henryson,
Kirktonhill, whose family held it until 1754, when it was
sold to Simon Watterston.

The Seatons still held superiority over Hartside and
Clints, and on 12th May 1653 George, Earl of Wintoun,
Lord Seaton, heir male of George, Earl of Wintoun, Lord
Seaton, is retoured " in the lands of Hartisheid and Clints,"
in the barony of West Niddrie. J They were again ratified
to him in 1670. This Lord Seton had the energetic spirit
of some of his forefathers ; he led a stirring life. Succeeding

* General Register of Sasines, fol. 43, vol. xiv. f Locality^ P- 215.

X Retours.

454 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

his grandfather in 1650, he was served heir to his Berwick-
shire property in 1653 ^s above, and also that of Edinburgh,
Haddington, and LinHthgow, and of that in Banff and Elgin
in 1655. In 1654 he was fined i^200 by Cromwell; went to
France, and was at the siege of Bizaulson ; was made Privy
Councillor by King Charles II. ; commanded the East
Lothianers against the Covenanters in 1666 at Pentland ;
and again at Bothwell Brig in 1679, and afterwards enter-
tained the Duke of Monmouth and his officers at Seton. He
died in 1704. He had parted with Hartside and Clints in
1676, selling them to John Hope of Hopetoun, who received
a charter of them in his favour, 2nd February 1677, the whole
property having been resigned by Lord Seaton, 24th
November 1676.* Again, on "7th February 1683, Charles
Hope of Hopetoune is retoured heir male and of line of
John Hope of Hopetoune, his father, in the lands of Hart-
syde and Clints, united with other lands in Linlithgow in the
barony aforesaid."

All hope of the Seatons ever recovering their wonted
grandeur perished in 17 15 when George, the fifth Earl of
Wintoun, having joined the rebels under the Pretender, was
taken prisoner, tried for high treason 15th March 17 16, found
guilty, and sentenced to death. He escaped, and his estates
were forfeited to the Crown. With him sank this noble house,
after proudly maintaining its greatness for upwards of 600
years. The accounts of the sale of the forfeited estates of
Seytoun and Wintoun in 17 16 contain no mention of Hart-
side and Clints.

Prior to the sale of Over Hartside to Simon Watterston
in 1754, t Mr Henryson, Kirktonhill, had granted the feu
right of one half of the lands of Over Hartside in favour
* Great Seal, No. 39, fol. 44a. Retours. t Locality, p. 216.

HARTSIDE 455

of Alexander Dalziel, so that when we reach 1742 we
find " Netherhartsyde and Overhartsyde, belonging to
Alexander Dalziell," pays " four pound twelve shilling "
to the schoolmaster's salary.* In the same year, " dints,
belonging to Mr John Borthwick of Crookston, advocate,"
pays "two pound fifteen shilling and six penies." Clints
has ever since remained in the same honourable connec-
tion. These two heritors of Channelkirk were also elders
in the church there on i6th July 1758. Mr Dalziell
resided at Hartside, and about 1762 was at variance
with his neighbouring farmer of Threeburnford about the
latter's rights to a share of Wideopen Common.*f- The last
notice of him as associated with the Kirk-Session is dated
the 25th April 1773. He is still in Hartside at that
time. He seems to have been a warm supporter of the
church, and seldom missed a meeting of the Kirk
Court. He appears to have left Hartside about this year ;
and that property, after his term, came into the posses-
sion of the Most Noble the Marquis of Tweeddale, the
descendants of whom have ever since retained it. Mr
Dalziell dispones it to the Marquis on the 29th April 1773 •
viz., " Netherhartside and the pendicles thereof, called Long-
cleugh ; parts of Overhartside and Teinds."| In the year
1787, Lord Tweeddale owned in this parish, Carfrae, Midlie,
Fernielees, Hillhouse, Herniecleuch, Hizeldean, Friarsknowes,
Carfrae Mill, and Mill Lands, Nether Hartside, and Nether
Howden. Half the lands of Over Hartside was acquired
later. Such an amount of property in the parish necessarily
constituted Lord Tweeddale its chief heritor, and such a

* Kirk Records.

f " Wideopen " case in Mackenzie's Acts and Decreets, vol. 597.
X Sasines.

456 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

circumstance cannot by any means be considered unfortunate
for all concerned. The greater part of the Tweeddale lands
in the parish came into the possession of the family through
the marriage of John, second Marquis, with Lady Anne
Maitland, only child and heiress of John, first and only Duke
of Lauderdale, who died in 1682. This John, second Marquis
of Tweeddale, was Lord High Chancellor of Scotland, and
took a leading part in carrying through the Treaty of Union
between England and Scotland in 1 707. By so doing, he must
have rendered himself very unpopular among his Lauderdale
tenants and workmen, who then petitioned against the Union,
but time has shown his superior wisdom.* He died in 17 13.
His grandson. Lord Charles Hay, rendered himself famous
in 1745, in the battle of Fontenoy, as the curious may learn
from Carlyle's account of that struggle in his Frederick the
Great.\ The Hays, indeed, have ever been characterised by
high principles and magnanimous deeds. In Church and in
State, in war and in peace, at home or abroad, in palace or
in cottage, their lives and characters have amply maintained
the noble status of their title. The father of the present
Marquis was a grand example of a patriotic aristocrat, using
the word in its legitimate sense. Born in 1787, he joined the
army as an ensign in the 52nd Foot, and was trained under
the famous Sir John Moore. He acted for several years as
Quarter-master General of the British Army, in the Peninsular
War, under the Duke of Wellington, and was one of his most
trusted officers. He was present at many of the battles of
that fierce struggle, and was wounded at Busaco. This
necessitated his being invalided home, but he was too good
a servant to the nation to be permitted to luxuriate among
the pleasant surroundings of Yester, and before he was quite
* Acts xi., 359a. t Vols. vi. and vii. By Index.

HARTSIDE 457

convalescent he was called upon to go out to Canada in 1814
to command the British Army there, during the war with the
United States anent the right of Britain to search American
ships for seamen to serve in the Royal Navy. He was again
wounded there. Returning home shortly after Waterloo, he
married, and retired from active service till he was appointed
Governor and Commander-in-chief in Madras in 1842. He
was there till 1848, when he returned to East Lothian and
gave his countrymen the benefit of his energy in improving
the methods of agriculture. This bore fruit in his being the
first to make drain tiles by machinery, and in inventing a
steam-plough for deep cultivation. He died in 1876, having a
few years before been appointed a Field- Marshal, an honour
which he was well worthy to wear.

The present Marquis is so well known, so widely in-
fluential, and so conspicuous a figure in almost every sphere
of public life, that any notice of him here might seem
superfluous. While he is a power in the great commercial
undertakings of the country, and is the avowed friend of the
National Church, and is held in the highest esteem by all its
members, it is his connection and influence within the parish
of Channelkirk that naturally engages our regard. He is
esteemed an excellent landlord, being considerate to his
tenants, and, through his able Commissioner, assiduous in
his care of all the interests of the parish. Being an expert
in business, the genuine respect given to him by our
parishioners does not spring from popular doles and gifts
of a sentimental and patronising description, but rests on
permanent advantages which are calculated to increase in
worth and comfort as time goes on. This has been especially
emphasised during the past two years, in his support of the
extension of the telegraph to Oxton, and his indispensable

458 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

and necessary influence in floating the railway scheme at
present being carried forward. We could mention many
other favours, entirely due to his kindness and consideration,
which never fail to bring brightness and help in their train,
but which he would certainly demur to have proclaimed from
the house-tops. Like all the rest of the parish proprietors,
however, he is contented to be respected and honoured only
through his good deeds, and from afar.

Simon Watterston bought Over Hartside from the Kirk-
tonhill Henrysons in 1754, and it passed to Mrs Henry
Torrance (Elizabeth Watterston, wife of Henry Torrance,
Seggie, Fife) in 1781, and she and her husband were seised
in fee and liferent of it respectively on 15th August 1792.*
Their sasine of liferent only is recorded as of date 5th
August 1785. Mr Torrance was then tenant in Seggie, Fife.
The property was long under security bonds to various
individuals, and ultimately in 1 807 was' purchased by Robert
Sheppard, merchant, Edinburgh, owner of Kirktonhill.

It must be borne in mind that from the days of Mr
Dalziel, Over Hartside was divided. The feu right and
infeftment of one half of it which he possessed, became
the possession of the Marquis of Tweeddale when the latter
acquired Nether Hartside.-f- So that the above account,
from sometime before the days of Simon Watterston, deals
only with half the lands of Over Hartside. This halving
caused great confusion in allocating the teinds. One half
went with the Nether Hartside estate and the other with
Kirktonhill, So that Robert Sheppard acquired half Over
Hartside only. In 1821 William Patrick, Esq., W.S.,
bought all Sheppard's property, and half Over Hartside
went to him. From him it was acquired by John Borth-
* Sasines. f Decreet of Locality^ p. 215.

HARTSIDE 459

wick, Esq. of Crookston, in 1840, whose son, the present
John Borthwick, Esq. of Crookston, received sasine of
it in 1 85 1. This portion of Over Hartside, which was
separated from the original Over Hartside, has now been
completely merged into the lands known of Kirktonhill, and
what is locally known and named Over Hartside is half
the lands of the original Over Hartside now held by Lord
Tweeddale, and with Nether Hartside worked as one
farm.

We find Hartside first referred to as a "barony" in
1728, when Heriotshall is .said to be included in it with its
pertinents.* It is needless to say that by that time, the
designation of " barony " had more signification as one of
courtesy than of real baronial status. In 1724 James
Fairgrieve was tenant of Hartside,

Nether Hartside and Over Hartside together have an
area of 2251 Imperial acres. The whole is leased by John
Bertram, Esq., Addinston, at a rent of £$02 per annum,
or about 5s. per acre. The farmhouse is included in this
rental. Mr Bertram, who is well known in agricultural
circles as a successful farmer and as a specialist in half-
bred sheep, holds the lease which his fathers before him
have held since 1780.

The land is mostly pasturage, but ploughing is done
to an extent which necessitates three or four pair of horses
being kept. Above 70 score of sheep are under the care
of two shepherds, who alone occupy Over Hartside. The
land is deeply cut into by several ravines, and varies in
elevation from 800 ft. to 1533 ft, above sea-level. Nether
Hartside farmhouse is untenanted, and the farm is what
is termed " a led-farm." Over Hartside bears many signs

* Sasines,

460 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

of having been a place of considerable size at one time.
Traces of building extend all round the present cottages,
and huge decaying tree-trunks give an air of past dignity
long ago faded. As it was a separate property, it seems
to have had also its own proper approaches. There is the
remnant of an old road which, following the course of
the present one which passes above " The Beeches " from
Threeburnford Road, appears to have crossed the head-
land there, pursuing its way up Rauchy Burn, and reaching
Over Hartside by a bridge, and a gradually rising ascent
across the ravine which divides it from Nether Hartside.

It is impossible now to say which of the two places
may have been the original Hartside. " Nether Hartside "
comes into notice first in order to distinguish it from
another Hartside, without a doubt ; just as Nether
Howden is called so to mark it out from the original
Howden, which is now Over Howden. But while there
is no dubiety about the " Howdens," the case of the
" Hartsides " is more perplexing. In modern times, im-
portance certainly weighs to the side of Nether Hartside,
but in the centuries before the Reformation it might
have been quite the contrary. Both dwellings have fallen
from their ancient glory, and though very pleasant and
desirable places of abode, are now slowly hastening to
decay. A fortalice is said to have stood near the farm-
house of Nether Hartside, and the adjoining field in which
it stood is still called the "Castle" field, but it has been
erased, we presume, by the usual process of dyke-building,
like those of Collielaw and Howden.

Glints as a farm is entirely devoted to pasturing sheep,
there being 40 score or thereby tended by the shepherd
Mr Riddell, whose family, six souls in all, alone reside at

GLENGELT 461

the place. The tenants are Walter Elliot, estate manager,
Ardtornish, Morven, and John Elliot, Meigle, Galashiels.
It is rented at ^215 per annum. It stands about iioo ft.
above sea-level, on a hilly ridge which rises steep and
bold from the bed of the Armet Water, which runs here at
about 800 ft. elevation, and also outlines in its course both
the County and Clints boundary. It is perhaps more than
two miles from Channelkirk Church, to which, across the
moors, a hill path brings the shepherd and his family.
A similar distance lies between it and Fountainhall Station.

Glengelt

Originally this place must have been of considerable
importance, and it is probable that from its situation it may
have dominated as a stronghold the main pass through
Lauderdale to the Lothians, which was a part of the
principal route in ancient times from England into Scotland.
It is now a shepherd's dwelling, and, as a building, is a
mere heap of stones which gives little honour to its
proprietor, and less comfort to its tenant, rats and smoke
holding revelry in it by night and day. But in the centuries
that lie immediately beyond the Reformation, it was proudly
associated with the lordly status of the Borthwicks, and, still
further back, with the feudally famous Mundevilles and
Veteripontes.

It seems clear that the name has a reference to the
times of the early British settlers. Like Soltre, Carfrae,
and Leader, Glengelt, says Chalmers, is Cambro-British*
There is no shadow of doubt about Glen being Gaelic.
Gelt appears to be more dubious. It has been suggested
that it may have been originally Glen-ne-geilt, the glen of

* Caledonia.

462 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

terror, but as " geilt" is Irish, the case is doubtful. GeeW^ —
terror fear ; from the Gaelic, seems possible, as a few Gaelic
names were to be found in the neighbourhood at an early
date. The Glen, when clothed with woods and haunted by
barbarous people, would be well named as a place of
terror.

Apart from any light which the name may throw on the
existence of Glengelt as a " local habitation," our information
from historical sources defines it in clear relief as far back
as the latter part of the twelfth century. The earliest names
associated with its proprietary are the Veteriponts and
Mundevilles.

We learn from Dryburgh Charters that Sir Henry de
Mundevilla indemnified the Church of Channelkirk from
the Chapel which he had built at Glengelt, promising that
no injury should be done to the Mother Church on account
of it.f There was need of this protection. His territorial
weight and consequence were of sufficient status to justify
him in assuming such dignity as a private chapel implied in
a country gentleman's residence, but such procedure drew
away from the priest of Channelkirk all the revenue which
fell to him from feast days, masses, and other specialities of
the Roman Catholic religion, and Sir Henry was to be
careful that while he enjoyed private worship in his chapel
at home on ordinary days, the revenues of these other
lucrative offices and seasons were to come as usual to
Channelkirk. This was indemnifying the Mother Church
from injury by private chapels. This Chapel of Glengelt
was still in existence, as we shall see, in 1490.

The charter above referred to is not dated, but it gives us
light on Glengelt at an earlier period than that in which it
* MacBean's Gaelic Dictionary. t No. 186.

GLENGELT 463

was written. Sir Henry tells us that a predecessor in
Glengelt territory was his ancestor, Lord Ivon de Veteri-
pont, who gave to Channelkirk Church seven acres of land
to the east of the church, and the charter is specially framed
in order that he may supplement his ancestor's gift by other
three acres.

The name Veteripont, Veteri-ponte, was originally, it
appears, Vieux-pont, and became latterly Vipont. A family
of this name anciently possessed the lands of Aberdour, in
Fife. Similar to the case of Lauderdale, which passed by
marriage to the Earls of Galway, the Aberdour estate passed
with the heiress, in 1 1 26, to Allan Mortimer, and became the
property of the Douglases two centuries later, and so were
inherited by their descendants, the Earls of Morton. Sir
Allan Vipont, who is said to be of Fifeshire extraction,
held Lochleven against the English about 1332. He had
previously defended Stirling Castle, and was made prisoner
by Edward I. in 1 304, when it surrendered after an arduous
siege.

From other sources we ascertain that Ivon de Veteripont
signed a charter by William de Morville of Lauderdale,
along with Alan de Sinclair, Carfrae, and Richard de
Morville. As Richard died in 1189, the signing of the
charter must have been accomplished before that date, and
it follows that Ivon de Veteripont, the benevolent friend of
Channelkirk Church, and proprietor of Glengelt, must have
been alive about that period. At what time Sir Henry
himself lived in Glengelt is more doubtful, but we find a
Henry de Mundevilla, who seems, like the rest of the Scotch
gentry, to have submitted to Edward I., " invited " by that
monarch to accompany the Scottish nobles on an expedition
which he was about to undertake into Flanders. This was

464 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

in 1297, and it is more than probable that this approximates
the date of the charter under view, and also the period in
which Sir Henry flourished. Like most of Lauderdale lairds,
he had, doubtless, rendered homage to Edward I. the
previous year.

How long Glengelt remained the property of the Munde-
villes we can only now conjecture. The times were volcanic,
and when 13 14 arrived, with Bannockburn as an altering
factor in Scottish history, lands and men were, for all
practical purposes, thrown into the King's treasury, and he
dispensed and disposed them according to his authority and
wisdom. The representatives of the De Morvilles were
ousted from Lauderdale, and with them, doubtless, also all
their favourites, and the new days brought new men, with
other names and fresher traditions. We find another Henry
de Mundeville signing a charter cir. 1400, but whether he was
" of Glengelt " it is hard to say.

In the year 1458, at Edinburgh, on the 14th day of
January, the King gave to Lord William Borthwick and his
heirs the lands of Glengelt, in Berwickshire, which Mary
Pringle in her pure widowhood had resigned. Lord William
married her the same year, and the " resignation " on her
part of Glengelt lands was made, doubtless, in order that new
infeftment might be given to her husband. Inferentially,
therefore, we ascertain that the Pringles or Hoppringles,
an influential family in the Borders, had owned Glengelt
between the times of the Mundevilles and the Borthwicks,
although it seems now impossible to say definitely whether
they had been the only proprietors during that period.

The Borthwicks had risen into honourable prominence
during the previous generation. Sir William Borthwick,
father of this Lord William of Glengelt, was sent Ambassador

GLENGELT 465

to Rome in 1425, and was created first Lord Borthwick in
1433, and died before 1458.* It appears that Lord William,
owner of Glengelt in 1458, had a brother called John de
Borthwick, who acquired the estate of Crookston in 1446,
the residence of the present John Borthwick. The latter
gentleman, also owner of Glengelt, is in direct male line,
through ten generations, descended from him. If the
Calendar of Laing Charters is right, the Borthwick title of
nobility, so long in dispute, seems to incline to the owner
of Crookston House.

At Edinburgh, once more, in 1467, the charter of Lord
William Borthwick is confirmed, in which he gives to his
son, James de Borthwick, the lands of Glengelt " for the
filial affection which the said father has towards him, and
for his services." Perhaps this James may have been the
first Borthwick resident at Glengelt, as there is every
probability that just as Cineray, Fenton, Gordonshall,
Crookston, Bowerhouse, Collielaw, and Soutra became
residences of the Borthwicks, .so Glengelt would be also
required to accommodate the increasing scions of the
noble house. Lord William died in 1483. His son James
had his troubles, as the following lurid excerpt testifies.
Moreover, as it sheds considerable light on the people and
their life in Upper Lauderdale in the fifteenth century, we
give the story in full.

We are in the Court of the Lords Auditors in Edinburgh,
and the time is the 23rd October I490.*f" " The Lords of
Council decreed that William of Douglas of Cavers and
William Douglas, his eme (eame = uncle) .sail content and
pay to James Borthwik of Glengelt and his tenents of
the samyn, that is to say : — John Smyth, John Somer-

* Douglas's Peerage. t Acta Doviinoriim Auditoruin.

2 G

466 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

ville, Gilbert Somerville, Thomas Somerville, Cok Hunt
(Jok Hunt?), John Grief, and Sire Thomas Hunter,
Chapellane, threescore of ky and oxin, price of the
pece (each) owrehed, 2 merkis ; twelfscore of yowis, price
of the pece, 5 s. ; 40 wedders, price of the pece, 5 s. ; 80
hoggs, price of the pece, 3s. ; and ane horse and certane
other gudes utisele and domicill to be avale of 10 merks.
Quhilk gudes wer spuilzeit and takin out of the saidis
landis of Glengelt be William Dowglas, in the Denbra,
George Dowglas, Archibald Dowglas, William Dowglas in
Cauilling, and Johne Stewart.

" For the quhilk they tuk them to our souveraine Lord's
remissioune in the Justice Are of Jedworth, and the said
William Dowglas of Cavers and William Dowglas becom
pledges for the satissfaccioune of pairties as wes pressit
be the copy of the adjurnale extract be Maister Richard
Lawsoun, Justice Clerk, schewin and producit before the
Lords.

" And ordains our souveraine Lords' lettres be direct to
distreze thaim, thair landis and gudes thairfore, and the
saidis William and William wer sumond to this Accioun
oft tymes callit, and nother comperit."

It will be remembered that the seditious nobles, of
whom the House of Douglas was chief, brought an army
to Lauder in 1482, and there hanged the King's favourites
over its bridge, and took the King himself prisoner to
Edinburgh. This unhappy state of lawlessness never
abated till the King fell at Sauchieburn ' in 1488, two years
before this raid of Glengelt. The loyalty of James
Borthwik seems to have drawn the wrath of the Douglases
down upon him, and the cleaning out of the live-stock
on his lands was the result.

GLENGELT 467

We note that Glengelt Chapel still flourished at this
date, and Sir Thomas Hunter (a Pope's knight*) was
priest. The three Somervilles, tenants in Glengelt, were
probably the progenitors of the Somervilles who occupied
so many of Upper Lauderdale farms in the i6th and 17th
centuries. There were Somervilles tenants in Glengelt
in 1699, as we shall learn by-and-by.

As late as 1503 the third Lord William of Borthwick
obtained sasine of Glengelt, and also many other lands
which do not fall to be noted here. In the same year
Collylaw and Bourhouses were held by Allan Borthwick.

In the memorable year of the battle of Flodden Field,
viz., 1 5 13, we find another William Borthwick receiving
sasine of Nenthorne, Glengelt, Colylaw, and Bourhousis.
There is a sad yet heroic reason for this, as the previous
proprietor, the third Lord of Borthwick, had just laid down
his life on that fatal field.

James Borthwick of Glengelt, probably he whose lands
the Douglases raided in 1490, married in 1528 Elizabeth,
first daughter of William Murray of Clermont and Newton,
fourth son of Andrew Murray of Blackbarony. f In 1543
James seems to have gone the way of all the earth, for
in that year John, Lord Borthwick of Borthwick Castle,
has charter of Glengelt lands, and in 1544-5 sasine is
granted, and Queen Mary confirms his charter. (Exchequer
Rolls, G. S.)

It is ten years afterwards, viz., in 1554, that we hear of
Michael Borthwick of Glengelt. He is one of the "noble
and eminent men " {nobiles et egregios vivos) in the
presence of whom the Retour of Sir William Saintcler of
Roslyn is sworn to on the 4th of July 1554, before
* See Knox's Works, vol. i., App., p. 555. t Douglas's Barony.

468 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

Patrick Irland, Sheriff Depute of Edinburgh.* In 1556
Glengelt is included in Borthwick barony along with Colle-
law and Bourhous. f Michael Borthwick of Glengelt figures
again in the Privy Council Records of 1570 along with his
kindred in a way that more than suggests the lawlessness
of the times, and the part the Borthwicks played in them.
William, Lord Borthwick, Michael Borthwick of Glengelt
(Glenhilt), and John Borthwick, sign, in that year, the
conditions on which men were received to the King's
obedience, who — I. Underlay the law for murther ; II. Were
in arms against his Majesty; and III. Who must keep
the peace between England and Scotland. J The Borth-
wicks evidently needed restraint imposed upon them, and
do not appear to have been famous during this period
for possessing the qualities of the dove. But they lived in
times when a man's own arm was often the best guarantee
of his retaining life and property. In this same year, for
example, special measures had to be taken against " the
daylie and continwale stowthes, reiffis, heirschippis, birn-
ingis, slawchteris, and depredationes of thieves and tra-
towris" throughout Lauderdale, Merse, Lammermuir and
the Lothians,§ and where blows were so common, and
battle the order of the day, the Borthwicks were not
likely to be found fast asleep in bed. But some of them
could fight with other weapons than swords. Sir John
Borthwick of Cinery, younger son of the third Lord
William, who perished at Flodden, was put into Cardinal
Beaton's black books as a heretic, and had the honour
to be cited before him at St Andrews to answer the
charge. But he knew better than to walk into such a

* Father Haye's Genealogie of the Sinclairs. t Exchequer Rolls.
X Privy Council. § Ibid.

GLENGELT 469

trap, and escaped to England, but was condemned and
excommunicated in absence, and had his effigy burnt at
St Andrews market cross. He survived, however, to end
<'his aige with fulnesse of daies at St Andrewes," before
1570, leaving his son William as his heir.* So in 1571,
on the 23rd October, the King confirms the charter of
William, Lord Borthwick, in which he concedes to his
eldest son, Wm. Borthwick, all his estate, including Glen-
gelt, f " Michael Borthwick of Glengelt " is mentioned in
it as one of several of the Borthwicks in the reversion.
James Borthwick, heir of William, Master of Borthwick,
his full brother, is returned in 1573 in the lands of
Nenthorn, Legerwood, Glengelt, Collielaw, and Burnhous
(probably Bourhouse), with right of patronage of churches
and chapels on these lands and others. } In August of
1 571 we are told that among "the names of theis that
were fifoirfalted" was James Borthwick, "sone to Michael
Borthuike (Glengelt)." § This means that for some
crime he had " forfalted " or forfeited all his rights in
law.

Some indication is given in 1588 which shows the extent
of Glengelt lands. They are mentioned as one of the
boundaries — the east — of the " sucken " of Oxton Mill
(Mountmill). The Kirkhaugh, which lay near Mountmill,
and which was excambed for the present north part of the
glebe in 1 871, is said to be bounded by Glengelt "on the
north and east," and consequently all the ground at present
north of Mountmill and round by Annfield Inn appears
to have been included in Glengelt at that period.il

John Borthwick of Glengelt is witness on 1 3th February

* Knox's Works, vol. i,, p. 533. t Great Seal.

J Retours. % Richard Banna/yne's Memoirs, ^p. i%$. || Great Seal.

470 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

1592-3 to a charter by James, Lord Borthwick, in which he
alienates certain lands to Lady Grissill Scott.*

When we arrive at the period of 1631, Glengelt is clean
gone from the Borthwicks and possessed by Sir Adam
Hepburn of Humbie, who also held about this time several
properties in Channelkirk parish.f The Titulars of the
teinds obtained decreet of valuation against him in that
year, "as heritor of the said lands." The valuation and
those concerned in it may be interesting to some.

Before the sub-Commissioners, "the said Thos. Markell
in Headshaw, of the said age, sworne and admittit, deponit
that the lands of Glengelt with pertinents within the said
parochin may pay and will be worth in constant rent
communibiis annis v<= merks" (^25, 15s. 6d. J approx.)
" James Richardson in Kirktonhill of the age of Ix yeires
or thereby, married, sworn," etc., witnesses as above. With
the above rent Glengelt was in 163 1 teinded at the rate of
£(i6, 13s. 4d. Scots. But the sub-Commissioners' valuation
does not seem to have been allowed in law. At the begin-
ning of this century the rental was £2%^ and the teind
A7, I2s.§

The following document sheds a very clear light on
Glengelt, and doubtless gives us the connecting proprietors
between the Borthwicks and Sir Adam Hepburn.

" 1638, Jan. 16. — At Dalkeith, the King . . . concedes
to Mr Adam Hepburne of Humbie . . . the lands of Glen-
gelt, with manor place, mill, fishings, within the bailiary
of Lauderdale . . . which formerly pertained to Andrew
Edmonstoun, now of Ednem ; Sir David Chrichtoun of
Lugton, Knight ; Lady Janet Edmonstoun, his wife ; Robert

* Calendar of Laing Charters. t Decreet of Locality^ p. 154.

+ Teind Papers. § Decreet of Locality.

GLENGELT 471

Dicksoun of Buchtrig (parish of Hownam, Roxburghshire);
Agnes Edmonstoun, his wife ; James Cockburn of Ryslaw ;
Mary Edmonstoun, his wife ; Alexander Home, paternal
uncle to James, Earl of Home and Lord of Dunglas ;
Margaret Edmonstoun, his wife ; John, Lord Borthwick ;
Hugh Wilson in Ginglekirk (whose son James is referred to
in the account of Rev. Walter Keith, Channelkirk minister) ;
John Rae, at Glengelt Mill ; John Steill, in Glengelt ; Staig
and William Markill, residents there ; John Wricht, in
Ormistoun ; and William Somervell, resident there ; and on
20th December 1637 were appraised for past-due duties
(in terms of Declarator of Non-entry * by the said Mr Adam,
obtained 28th July 1637), extending to 7877^ merks, and
393 merks seven shillings and fourpence for the Sheriff's
fee.t

The Mill of Glengelt (Mountmill) is here included in
these lands. In 163 1 it is said to have been the property of
Robert Lawson of Humbie, with the mill lands, and its
severance from Glengelt produced no little annoyance sub-
sequently in the teind cases relating to Channelkirk. J

The Edmonstons of Edmonston held much land in
the parishes of Liberton, Cranstoun, Fala, Crichton, Newton,
and Ednam about the beginning of the sixteenth century.

* As a Superior was entitled to have some one bound to perfomi the
services stipulated for in the orginal grant, the heir of the vassal was not
entitled on the death of his ancestor to enter into possession of the lands
until he had acknowledged the Superior by entering with him, i.e.^ ac-
cepting a charter which substituted him as vassal in room of his ancestor.
Till this was done, the Superior was entitled to take possession of the
lands and levy the rents, to the exclusion to the vassal's heirs or dis-
ponees ; and this right was called the casualty of non-entry.— Juridical
Styles^ vol. i., p. 7, fifth edition.

t Great Seal.

X Decreet of Locality^ pp. 268, 271.

472 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

We also learn that at this date, 1637, the Glengelt
lands were in debt to Thomas, Earl of Haddington, "ane
yeirly annual rent of ane hundreth pundis,* viz., from
Martimes 1619 inclusive to Witsonday last bypast, 1637,
inclusive, extending to the sowme of ane thousand sevine
hundreth fiftie pundis" (^1750), and Mr Adam Hepburne of
Humbie becomes caution that the goods and gear above
specified (viz., the debts) shall be forthcoming.-f- He was
one of the Earl's curators in 1640.J It is in this year that
Glengelt with mill is conceded to him in liferent,§ and to
Thomas, his eldest son (in fee), he giving for blench-farm II
a red rose, as the Borth wicks had done before him.

We ascertain that about this time William Wight was
tenant in Glengelt, and died on i6th April 1682. His
brother, Alexander Wight, was tenant in it at a later date,
and died i8th September 1736.

Mr John Sleich or Sligh is returned on March 27,
1695, as holding Glengelt and bequeathing it on that date
to the "heir portioner" William Cockburn, son of Henry
Cockburn, Provost of Haddington, one of the Cockburns
probably of Clerkington, II Mr John Sleich was also

* Memorials of the Earls of Haddington, 1889, vol ii., p. 306.

t Ibid., p. 312.

% Ibid., vol. i., p. 201. § Great Seal.

II It not unfrequently happened that a Superior in need of ready
money agreed to accept a capital sum in lieu of future services or pay-
ments, or that the Superior wished to confer on his vassal a free gift for
distinguished services, and in such circumstances a purely nominal
annual payment was stipulated, merely as an acknowledgment of the
Superior's paramount right, such as a penny Scots, a rose, a pair of
spurs, or a pair of gloves, these being generally exigible only in the
event of their being demanded by the Superior within the year. The
tenure thus created was called blench or blenchfarm. — Juridical Styles^
vol. i., p. 5., fifth edition.

^ Retours.

GLENGELT 473

Provost of Haddington. SHgh is, however, owner of and
teinded for Glengelt lands in 1691, four years prior to the
above date.* The year in which WilHam Cockburn is
returned as heir portioner of Glengelt, viz., 1695, is also the
one in which John Robertson is said to possess it, so that
it must have passed quickly out of Cockburn's hands. " It
appeared that in 1695 an heritable bond had been granted
by John Robertson, then proprietor of Glengelt, and also
of the mill and mill lands and of the lands about Gingle-
kirk in which the mill was called the mill of Glengelt, and the
lands of Ginglekirk were called Glengelt lands.^f- Four
years pass away, and again Glengelt undergoes changes
which, however, are somewhat unpleasant. On the i6th of
November 1699, "John Mathie, skipper," J obtains decreet
of poinding the ground against the tenants of Glengelt,
Janet Somerville in "Glengelt Town-head," and Janet
Somerville in " Glengelt Town-foot," John Henderson in
Glengelt Milne, and Master Andrew Mein in "Ginglekirk,
called Glengelt lands." These lands ultimately come into
the possession of Thomas Mathie, a merchant in Cockenzie,
son and heir of John Mathie, his father, merchant in
Prestonpans, who died 15th March 1726. Thomas Mathie
sells them in 173 1 to William Hunter, merchant in Edin-
burgh and Dalkeith. The latter holds Nether Howden
also at this time, and having died about 1742, Glengelt is
found in the hands of his daughter, Agnes Hunter, in I745.§
She appears to have built the present house of Glengelt,
as her full name is carved on the lintel of the door with
the date 1743. In 1748 she is married to John Borthwick,
Esq. of Crookston, as we find him' obtaining sasine of

* Decreet of Locality^ p. 163. f Ibid.^ p. 273.

X Ibid., p. 160. § Ibid., p. 161,

474 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

Glengelt and Mountmfll in that year as her husband. For
nearly i8o years Glengelt had been out of the hands
of the Borthwicks, and here it returned to them, to all
appearance, as it probably came at first, in the shape of a
marriage dowry. In 178 1 John Borthwick of Crookston
and William his son are seised in liferent and fee respect-
ively in Glengelt* John Borthwick, heir to his brother
William, is seised in Glengelt, 15th April i8o2.-f- Mention
is often made, about this time, of part of " the Moss of
Glengelt," as being included in Justicehall property. Towards
the end of last century, from about 1780, the property of
Glengelt was bonded to a considerable extent, chiefly to
Sir John Dalrymple Hamilton MacGill of Cousland and
his heirs. We believe it is the last mentioned John Borth-
wick of Crookston who is mentioned in a corrective note
in Scott's Monastery. X He died about 1846, and Glengelt
is under trustees then, the present John Borthwick being
seised in it and all his other properties in this parish on
1 0th November i85i.§

It is worthy of notice that Glengelt is said to include, at
the end of the seventeeth century, the lands of Ginglekirk.
Perhaps this understanding came down from the time when
Sir Ivon de Veteriponte [cir. 1 1 89) gave 7 acres of Glengelt
lands to Channelkirk Church, supplemented as we have seen
by other three from Sir Henry de Mundeville, his descendant.
These 10 acres lay immediately to the east of the church, all
of which are now included in New Channelkirk Farm, that is,
Mr Borthwick's lands. It is clear that anciently Glengelt
lands must have enclosed all the land east of the church,

* Sasines. t Lindsay's Index to Retours.

I "Centenary Edition," 1871. § Sasines.

GLENGELT 475

taking in all the space bounded at present by Mountmill
steading and Annfield Inn.

If we are to rely upon the geographers, it is quite a
modern designation which applies the name of " Lammer-
moor " to the hills around Upper Lauderdale. According to
Font's map in Blaeu's Atlas, the entire sweep of hill area
which embraces Soutra Hill, Headshaw Hill, and the hills
surrounding Kelphope Water is called " Glengelt Felles." H.
Moll's map of 1725 includes in this designation the whole
circle of hills surrounding Upper Lauderdale, beginning
from Whitelaw on the west, and enclosing Over Howden,
Airhouse, Channelkirk, Glengelt, Headshaw, and Kelphope.
That both geographers should have treated the " Lammer-
moors " and " Glengelt Felles " as distinct and separate hill-
districts is not without a certain significance. At what time
in the remote past Glengelt may have given its name to the
hills around Upper Lauderdale we have no means now of
ascertaining, but the fact seems indisputable, as far, at least,
as these maps can guide us ; and a reasonable inference
seems to follow, viz., that Glengelt at that period must have
had weight and importance sufficient to impress its name
widely beyond what its modern status and environment
would appear to indicate. The sanction must have been a
traditionary one, and bestowed, no doubt, far back in the
earlier centuries of the historical epoch.

The minister of Channelkirk remarks of it in 1627 : —
" Greingelt is in stok 1000 merks, personage 6 scoir lib.,
viccarage ane 100 merkis," by far the largest farm in the
parish at that time. The beginning of this century saw it
tenanted by Mr Shiels, who was followed by the brothers
George and Walter Peacock. Then the late John Archibald,
Overshiels, so well known throughout the Borders as a

476 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

breeder of sheep, became tenant in 1846. At that time
New Channelkirk was farmed by James Anderson. Mr
Archibald became tenant of that farm also in 1854, when
Glengelt and it were put under the same lease. New
Channelkirk became after this the chief steading for the
Glengelt lands, and Glengelt decreased to its present dimen-
sions.

A place worthy of mention on Glengelt lands is The Den,
sometimes called Lourie's Den. The following regarding it
gives the principal particulars : — *

" The old hostelry or roadside public-house of Hunter's
Hall or Lourie's Den was on the south side of Soutra Hill.
Although in Berwickshire, it was just on the border of East
Lothian, on the road to Carfraemill and Lauder. It is now
unoccupied as an inn, but was long ago a well-known house,
where travellers could get good cheer and a night's up-put-
ting. It is said that Prince Charlie's highlanders, on the
march to England, stopped and got refreshments there. On
its signboard there was the representation of a huntsman
blowing his bugle-horn with the foxhounds around him, and
the following doggerel lines of poetry : —

' Humpty, dumpty, herrie, perrie,
. Step in here and ye'll be cherrie ;
Try our speerits and our porter,
They'll make the road the shorter ;
And if ye hae a mind to stay,
Your horse can get guid corn and hay.'

' Good entertainment for man and horse.' "

Instead of " Humpty, dumpty," the above is sometimes
varied by " Riftem, Tiftem," which was said to be the inn-
keeper's nickname.

* Reminiscences of the Comity of Haddington, 1890, p. 223.

GLENGELT 477

" A person of the name of Lourie was said to have been
the innkeeper in old times, and hence its name of Lourie's
Den. It was once the great stopping place for drovers' carts
and carriers from Lauderdale and the south, going to and
from Dalkeith market, etc. A bloody fight betwixt two
gipsies of the Faa and Shaw tribes long ago took place in the
field opposite the inn, when one of them was killed. The
survivor was tried and hanged."

It appears to be in reference to the above-mentioned fight
that we have in our Kirk Records the item which says : —
" Sept. 4, 1772 — To Thomas Wilson for a coffin to the man
that was murdered at Huntershall — 6s." This seems to imply
that Huntershall and Lourie's Den were identical, and not
separate places as has been said.

We cull the following account of the affair from another
source * : — " There used to be, and perhaps still is, a small
public-house on the roadside, between Lauder and Dalkeith,
called Lourie's Den. It stood in a very lonely situation,
near the steep mountain pass of Soutra Hill, the terror of
the South country carters in pre-railway times. It was
seldom one could get past it without witnessing a drunken
fight, if not getting implicated in it — in fact, the place was
infamous. The neighbourhood was a harbourage for the
gipsies, who could make their way thence across the hills,
without let or hindrance, either to Gala Water, Leithen
and Eddleston Waters, the Blackadder, which runs down
into the Merse, the Haddingtonshire Tyne, the South Esk
in Midlothian, or right down Lauderdale into Teviotdale,
and thence into England.

" Many a gipsy fight as well as carter's squabble has
taken place at Lourie's Den. Little more than a century
* Gypsies of Yetholm, p. 64 (Wm. Brockie, Kelso, 1884).

478 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

ago it was the scene of a terrible conflict. Two gipsy
chiefs, named respectively Robert Keith and Charles
Anderson, who had somehow fallen out, and followed each
other for some time for the purpose of fighting out their
quarrel, met at last at Lourie's Den. The two antagonists
were brothers-in-law, Anderson being married to Keith's
sister. Anderson proved an overmatch for Keith ; and
William Keith, to save his brother, laid hold of Anderson.
Whereupon Madge Greig, Robert's wife, handed her husband
a knife, and called on him to despatch the villain while
unable to defend himself, owing to his hands being held.
Robert repeatedly struck with the knife, but it rebounded
from the unhappy man's ribs without much effect. Impatient
at the delay, Madge called out to the assassin, ' Strike
laigh ! strike laigh ! ' and, following her directions, he
stabbed him to the heart. The only remark made by any
of the gang was this exclamation from one of them : —
' Gude faith, Rob, ye've dune for 'im noo 1 ' William Keith
was astonished when he found that Anderson had been
stabbed in his arms, as his interference was only to save
his brother from being overpowered by him. Robert
Keith instantly fled, but was pursued by the country
folks, armed with pitchforks and muskets. He was caught
in a bracken bush, in which he had concealed himself, and
was executed at Jedburgh on the 24th November 1772.
One of the individuals who assisted at Keith's capture
was the father of Sir Walter Scott. Long afterwards
William Keith was apprehended in a ruinous house in
Peeblesshire for his share in the murder, but not till he
had made, though half-naked, a desperate resistance to
the officers .sent to capture him. He was tried, condemned,
and banished to the plantations." " Even before this, how-

GLENGELT 479

ever," says another authority,* "the place had a sinister
reputation. Several packmen or pedlars had mysteriously
disappeared. No clue to their fate was got until one warm
summer, many years after, the goose-dub or small pond
opposite the door became completely dry and exposed a
number of human bones, revealing the gruesome secret."

Lourie's Den is now the shieling of Glengelt " ootby
shepherd," and after such a terrible past enjoys a peace-
ful respectability ; and the very sight of the lonely cottage
on the wide moor is like the face of a friend to many a
tired traveller. Mr Dodds, the schoolmaster of Channel-
kirk, once took Tam Spence to the Den to "cast" his
peats. Tam was a wag with a wit that was well known in
Oxton. After a spell of the spade, both rested to refresh
themselves. The schoolmaster had provided a " pistol "
which he proceeded alone to despatch. " That's fine whusky,
Mr Dodds," quoth Tam, with sticky lips. " How do you
know, Tam, when you haven't tasted it ? " replied the dominie.
" Becus ye' re keepin' 't a' tae yersel," was Tam's reply.

The " Redbraes " lies almost half-way between the Den
and Glengelt. It has a painful notoriety as having been
the spot where the dead body of Dr Gibson of Lauder
was found some years ago. Death had been compassed
by cutting the throat. The body was found lying on the
north side of the road, as it crosses the deep ravine at
that place.

As a hill farm, Glengelt, the steading of which is
now named New Channelkirk, has many points in its
favour. Its fields are all easy of access, and there must
be few spots which the reaper-and-binder machine cannot

* Chambers's Journal^ 28th April 1888, "Across the Lammermoors," by
Mr Mowat.

480 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

reach, although there is a considerable slope on every one
of them. It has abundance of water in the Leader, which
flows past the farmhouse, and first-class springs are in the
neighbourhood. Its soil is variable, however, — some fields
being light and gravelly, and others of a heavy clay.
Attention to the drains would improve the latter consider-
ably, especially on the hill pasture-land. It affords good
shooting to sportsmen, as a large part of Soutra Moor lies
within its marches. In Mr Archibald's hands the farm
was famous for its sheep. In area it comprises nearly
1650 acres or thereby, of which about 276 are arable,
258 permanent grass, and the rest good hill pasture.
It rents, at present, at £S7^> ^os. The steading, to be
regularly resided in, might require improvements. As its
locality is lower almost than most of the fields, the home
journeys are always easy tasks for horses. Two shepherds
are employed. The stock is a mixed one and rather
numerous, there being, perhaps, 70 score of sheep and
a considerable number of cattle. The present tenant, who is
outgoing Whitsunday 1900, is Thomas Milne Skirving,
Niddrie Mains, Liberton, Mr Forrest succeeds.

CHAPTER XVI

COLLIELAW

The Name — Residence in 1206 — Sir Vivian de Mulineys — Thomas the
Cleric — The Borthwicks — The Heriots — Reduplication of Place-
Names — The Kers of Morristoun — House of Binning and Byres —
Fairgrieve — Adinston of Carcant — The Scottish Episcopal Fund —
Earl of Lauderdale — Tenants.

As Oxton, Carfrae, Hartside, and Glengelt are designated
Baronies in law instruments, so Collielaw, Airhouse, Over
Howden, and Kirktonhill may be styled Residences^ as
distinguished from ordinary farm's, both on account of their
ancient importance in Upper Lauderdale, and the re-
sidentiary status which their proprietors long conferred
upon them.

The name Collielaw, CoUelaw, or Colela, seems to be derived
from two sources. " Law " is the English " Low," but on
the Scottish Borders it means a mound, a rising ground,
after the Anglo-Saxon hlaw. A Law rises behind Collielaw
to the west, reaching 1286 ft. above sea-level, and doubtless
accounts sufficiently for the latter part of the name. Colle
may come from the Gaelic coille^ " wood," and perhaps it is
just possible that Lauderdale may have possessed as many
Gaelic people as impose names upon some of its places.
But this can scarcely be insisted upon with much seriousness.
There is an alternative view. It may be derived from the

2 H

482 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

Anglo-Saxon Col, Colly, meaning sooty, begrimed, black. If
it were so, and the probabilities lean that way, then the
complete word would look like Colly-hlaw, and mean The
Black Hill. At a time when dense woods clothed all
the hills surrounding the Leader, this designation would
admirably suit the locality.

The present Collielaw is not the ancient one. The old
manor place and fortalice stood a little to the south-west
of the present farmhouse and steading, and at a correspond-
ing elevation to that of Bowerhouse and Over Howden.
A few trees and traces of old wall foundations still serve to
fix the original locality of Old Collielaw. The remaining
vestiges of stone buildings were still in good evidence about
seventeen years ago, as vouched by the present steward,
who used them as shelter for stock in stormy weather,
but these have also vanished, and now form part of the
field fences.

The earliest historical reference to it is about 1206 A.D.
In the Charters of Kelso Abbey there is a conveyance made
of five carucates of land by Alan, Lord Galloway, from his
estate in Upper Lauderdale to the Kelso monks.* In the
description of the boundaries of these carucates, "the tofts
and crofts of William of Colilawe " are given as landmarks
lying on the line of division. It is clear that at this early
time Collielaw was a fixed residence, with its lands cultivated,
and the houses of dependents adjoining it, similar to what
they are now, although, perhaps, not to the same extent.
In Soltre Charters there is a certain pious Sir Vivian de
Mulineys (Molineaux), who, being moved by divine piety
and desire of the salvation of the souls of " my lords, viz.,
Roland and Alan of Galway," the souls of his ancestors
* Liber dc Calchon, Charter No. 245.

COLLIELAW 483

and successors, as well as the salvation of his own soul,
gives and concedes, and by this his charter confirms, to God
and the House of Soltre and the brethren for ever, " my
land of Salton by its just boundaries as measured by Sir
Walter Olifard, Justiciar of Lothian {cir. 12 14- 1249), by order
of the sovereign the King (Alex. II.), the same, that is,
which was given to me in excambion (exchange) for my
land of Collilaw, which Alan of Galway, of good memory
for homage and service, gave to me with all pertinents and
easements."*

The date of this document is given as A.D. 1236- 1238,
and both Earls of Galway are evidently referred to as being
dead. As Lord Alan died in 1234, and Sir Vivian received
Collielaw from him, it is patent that the gift of it by the
former must have been made between that date and the
beginning of the century when Lord Alan succeeded his
father Rolland in the estate of Lauderdale. Short references
here and there regarding Sir Vivian de Mulineys seem to
indicate that he was on terms of close friendship with the
leading men of his age, but especially with the Lords of
Lauderdale and Galway. He is a witness to one of Wm.
de Morville's charters, which (1189-96) confirms his mother's
gifts of lands and privileges to the monks of St Mary of
Furneis, Neubi.^f He is found in a similar capacity {cir. 1 206)
in Charter 246 of Kelso Abbey, and also somewhat later
in No. 70 of Holyrood Charters, and again in Charter No, 12
of the Domus de Soltre.

It may have been about the beginning of the fourteenth
century, or perhaps earlier, that Thomas the Cleric, son of
the " William of Collilaw " mentioned above, gave, conceded,

* Domus de Soltre, No. 32.

I Calendar of Documents relating to Scotland, vol. i.

484 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

and confirmed to God and the Church of St Cuthbert at
Childenchirch, and the canons of Dryburgh, eight acres of
land, four arable and four pasture, viz., the Haugh under
Langside in the territory of Ulkilstoun (Oxton)."* This is
doubtless the part of the glebe which was the cause of much
disputation in the Court of Session intermittently from the
middle of the last till the close of the third decade of this
century, and which was excambed for the present north part
of the glebe in 1871. Thomas the Cleric did not give away
a great deal when he bestowed these acres, for their ex-
posure to the floods of Airhouse Water render them a
precarious good, owing to sand silting and the changing bed
of the stream. He asserts that he will warrant these lands
against all men, and affixes his seal to the document in
order that his donation may have perpetual force {perpetuum
robur). He sincerely desired, no doubt, that Channelkirk
Church should possess his acres for ever, but alas for the
" force " ! Thomas was alive in the days of Allan of Hertis-
heued (Hartside), and was Superior over some of Allan's
houses and lands in Oxton territory, and we know that
Allan lived about 1327, in the reign of King Robert the
Bruce.-f*

More than a hundred years pass away before we catch
a glimpse once more of Collielaw. In 1473 the King con-
firms Lord William Borthwick's charter, in which he concedes
to his son Thomas, for good and faithful service, and for
filial love, the lands of Collilaw. The Borthwicks first came
into Channelkirk parish a generation earlier through the
possession of Glengelt.J In 1490 this Thomas Borthwick

* Liber de Dryburgh^ No. 185.
t Original Charters, vol i., p 98.
X Great Seal and Exchequer Rolls.

COLLIELAW 485

is at law with William Cranstoun for ;^8 Scots due from
Michelston lands, " lik as the said William wes bundin be
his obligation under his sele schewin and producit befor
the lords," and " the lords " " ordains that lettres be writtin
to distreze said William his lands and guds for the said soume
to the releving of the said Thomas."* In 1503 matters have
to be readjusted regarding Collielaw. A new Lord William,
who fell at Flodden ten years later, has another charter
confirmed by the King, wherein he concedes to Allan Borth-
wick, son to Lord William's paternal uncle, Sir Thomas
Borthwick of Colylaw, the lands of Colylaw, personally
resigned by the said Thomas and his wife, Helen Rutherford.
There is reserved free tenement to Sir Thomas, and a
reasonable third to his wife, with other privileges which are
noticed under " Bowerhouse." -j- Hoppringle of Smailholm
receives in 15 10 certain sums from several places in Lauder-
dale, and among them CoUilaw yields him 6s. 8d. yearly.

In 1 513, the fatal year of Flodden, William, Lord Borth-
wick, receives sasine of Colylaw, and in 1538, on 21st
August, the King confirms the grant of the same lands with
all Borthwick estates, " now incorporated into the free barony
of Borthwick, on account of the said Lord William's good
service to the King in his youth." I

Collielaw is in the hands of John, Lord Borthwick, in
1543, his charter being confirmed on 15th January of that
year by Queen Mary.§

When the Reformation passes in 1566, and our some-
what intermittent chronicle brings us to the year 1 571, the
House of Borthwick stands out before us in great territoria
dignity, and because mention is made of advowsons of churches

* Ac/a Dominorum Concilii. t Great Seal.

X Ibid. § Ibid, and Exchequer Rolls.

486 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

and chapels being in their hands, we presume that some portion
of the wealth of the suppressed Romanists had found its way
into their exchequer. In that year the King confirms the
charter of William, Lord Borthwick, in which he concedes to
William, his eldest son, " all the lands, barony, and dominion
of Borthwick, viz., the lands of the Moat of Lochquharrat and
its castle, now called the Castle of Borthwick, likewise half
the lands of Middleton, the lands and town of Buitland, the
land of Heriot and Heriotsmoor, in Midlothian ; the lands of
Borthwick in Selkirkshire ; lands of Little Ormiston, Heath-
pule, and Whitefield in Peebleshire ; lands of Hyndeford in
Lanarkshire ; lands and barony of Aberdour in Aberdeen-
shire ; lands of Nenthorn, Legerwood, Glengelt, Collelaw,
and Bowerhouse, in Berwickshire ; with towers, fortalices,
houses, buildings, mills, multures, and sequels annexed to
these ; with the patronage of churches and chapels, holdings,
etc., all of which were incorporated by King James V. into
one barony of Borthwick : Holding of the said William
Borthwick and the masculine heirs of his body legitimately
begotten ; whom failing, of James Borthwick, his second son,
and the heirs of him ; whom failing, of William Borthwick,
son and heir of the late Sir John Borthwick of Cinery, knight,
and the heirs of him ; whom failing, of Michael Borthwick of
Glengelt, and his heirs ; whom failing, of John Borthwick
of Gordonshall ; whom failing, of John Borthwick of Crook-
ston ; whom failing, of William Borthwick of Soutray,"
etc., etc.

It is evident that both in family influence and in wealth
and weight of property, the Borthwicks had, at this time,
their full share in the changing history of their country.
Sir John of Cinery, above mentioned, has been alluded to
in our notice of Glengelt, and he seems to have been quite

COLLIELAW 487

the " worthie knight " which Caldervvood, in his history,
designates him, fighting a good fight for the Protestant faith,
and only escaping the martyr's doom by fire through a
judicious exercise of Borthwick wit and Scotch caution. He
died somewhat before 1570, happy in seeing at St Andrews,
to which he was invited by Cardinal Beaton, doubtless to be
burned, the unchallenged reign of that religion he loved so
well.

As an example of the other type of Borthwick we give
the following account in which James Borthwick of Collie-
law figures somewhat prominently : —

"30th April 1585. — John Livingstone of Belstane * (in the
parish of Carluke, Lanarkshire) complained to the Council
of an assault which had been made upon him on the 3rd
of the preceding February by sundry persons, whose motive
in so assailing him does not appear. The affair is most
characteristic — indeed, a type of numberless other lawless
proceedings of the time. John quietly leaves his house
before sunrise, meaning no harm to any one, and expect-
ing none to himself He walks out, as he says, under
God's peace and the King's, when suddenly he is beset by
about forty people who had him at feud, 'all bodin in feir
of weir,' namely, armed with jacks, stell-bonnets, spears,
lance-staffs, bows, hagbuts, pistolets, and other invasive
weapons forbidden by the laws. At the head of them was
William, Master of Yester — a denounced rebel on account
of his slaughter of the Laird of Westerhall's servant — etc.,
etc., James Borthwick of Colela, etc., were among the
company, evidently all of them men of some figure and
importance. Having come for the purpose of attacking
Livingstone, they no sooner saw him than they set upon
* Reign of James V/., vol i., pp. 299-300.

488 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

him, with discharge of their firearms, to deprive him of
his Hfe. He narrowly escaped and ran back to his house,
which they immediately environed in the most furious
manner, firing in at the windows, and through every
other aperture, for a space of three hours. A bullet pierced
his hat. As they departed, they met his wife and daughter,
whom they abused shamefully. In short, it seems altogether
to have been an affair of the most barbarous and violent
kind. The offenders were all denounced rebels." This
was not the beginning of James's "life of sturt and strife."
From Richard Bannatyne's Memoirs''^ we learn that in
August 1 57 1, among "the names of theis that were
foirfalted," were James Borthuike, Glengelt, and "James
Borthuike of Colila." Another " foirfalted " or forfeited
name, notable in this parish from the teind interest which
the family has through centuries held in it, was that of
"Johne Cranstoun of Morstoun" (Moray's town) (Morriston,
Legerwood). The Borthwicks, indeed, seem never to have
lacked plenty of vigour, and they lived their lives at all
times with great spirit and evident enjoyment. Perhaps
it was about this time, however, that the family cup, long
running over with the wine of wealth and influence, began
perceptibly to ebb. When the moral foundations which
are ever the deepest are undermined, family honours,
names, and properties soon sink out of sight in their
country's affairs as the wrecked ship on the silting sea-
beach slowly disappears beneath the sand. Even the cloud-
capped tower, be it Eiffel or otherwise, is only guaranteed
stability when it preserves its true relations to the old
earth and the laws of gravitation. Many Scottish houses
of proud pedigree, to-day lie mouldering half-in-half-out

* Page 185.

COLLIELAW 489

of their burial vaults, not because of lack of heirs, influence,
intellect, or wealth, but purely because they despised the
" righteousness that alone exalteth a nation."

James Borthwick, Lord William's heir and full brother, is
returned in October 1573 as possessor of Collelawe, and
much else.

After this date the Borthwicks make their exit from
Collielaw, and the Heriots step into their place. On the
15th of May 1601, we read of George Herriott of CoUelaw,
who is heir to Peter Herriott in Leyth, his brother, receiving
"an annual return of 20 merks (;^I3, 6s. 8d.) from the croft
of land called Channonis Croft, near to the church of Lawder,
within the burgage of the said burgh and bailiary of Lauder-
daill."* And on nth August 1602 he is returned as also
receiving 24 merks from the ecclesiastical lands of Legert-
wode.

These Heriots of Leith, who had interest at this time in
Airhouse, Collielaw, Legerwood, and Trabroun, may have
been related to the John Heriot of Gladsmuir, who acquired
Trabroun in that parish from Archibald, Earl of Douglas,
for military service about 1622, and was grandfather to
George Heriot, founder of Heriot's Hospital, Edinburgh."!"
George, father to the celebrated philanthropist, died in 16 10.
The personal history of the founder himself is rather meagre,
but the dates at which we find the Heriots in Trabroun,
Collielaw, and other places in Lauderdale, are contempor-
aneous with his life, he having been born about 1563, and
died in I^ondon, 1624.I

* Retours.

t Dr Stevens' Memoir of Heriot.

X See also Scott's Fortunes of Nigel ^ notes. If Leith Burgh Records
had gone back to 1600, we might, perhaps, have learned something more
concerning the Heriots of Collielaw.

490 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

In 163 1 an action was raised by "John, Earl of Mar, and
Alex. Cranstoun of Morriestoun, equall heritable proprietors
of teinds in Channelkirk, against Andro Law of Bourhouses,
heritor of the lands of Bourhouses and CoUielaw." These
two places are afterwards combined in designation as in the
" barony of Pilmuir." Andro Law, it appears, possessed but
two-thirds of Collielaw, the remaining third being still held
by the Heriots of Trabroun.

In October 1633, Anna Heriot, daughter of the late Robert
Heriot of Trabroune, heir to James Heriot of Trabroune,
great-grandfather, is returned in the third part of the lands
of Collielaw, in the .bailiary of Lauderdale * We have no
doubt that the " Trabroune " mentioned here is the Lauder-
dale Trabroun, the ancient " Treuerburn " icir. 11 70) of the
Dryburgh Charters. And in reference to this, it has been
to us a matter of astonishment to find how many of the
places in Lauderdale have their twin-name in Haddington-
shire and Midlothian — Carfrae, Oxton, Trabroun, Howden,
Bowerhouse, Mountmill, and Hartside being among the
examples from this parish. Which was the earlier in history
it might be hard to say. Perhaps the fact of the same
proprietor holding lands in both districts might account
for the similarity of names, though the real meaning for
some of the places may lie deeper, viz., in the occupation
of the territory by people speaking the same language, as
in the case of the Ottadini, who were Brythonic Celts, or
Welsh, and were spread over all our eastern seaboard in
the second century. The Celtic names, at least, might be
accounted for on this hypothesis. We lean to the view that
the Lauderdale names are the older.

The subsequent notices of Collielaw in the seventeenth
* Retours.

COLLIELAW 491

century are in connection with the Kers of Morriston, who
held some of the farms and a large share of the teinds of
this parish. There is a sasine in favour of Mark Ker of
Morriston, about 1670, of his lands of Ginglekirk.* These
lands seem to have been Collilaw and Bourhouse, as in
1676, after his decease, his son, Andrew Ker of Morriston,
is seised in these properties, with the parish teinds, as heir
of his father, " Master Marc Ker." f John Ker of Morriston,
heir of his brother Andrew, has the same lands and teinds
secured to him in 1687.I The Ker proprietary in the above
is carried still further with Andrew Ker of Morriston, who
is served on 30th August 1692 as lineal and male heir of
John Ker of Morriston, his father, in the lands of *' Colzielaw
and Bouchhous, in the parish of Channelkirk, with tithes
and annuities," etc. Regarding the last-mentioned date,
perhaps the whole of Collielaw did not become the property
of Andrew Ker, for in the minister's note-book (Rev. D.
Scott's) there is a locality of stipend for 1691, which has
the following : — " The 3rd part of Collielaw, belonging to
Broun of Coalstoun " (near Haddington), and so much
seems to have been severed from the Morrieston posses-
sions. The Brouns of Coalston were a very old family in
East Lothian, many members of which attained to distinc-
tion in law.

From the Kers of Morriston, Collielaw passed next into
the possession of Charles Binning, Solicitor, of Pilmuir.§
On 27th February 1722, Pilmuir lands are erected by
charter of novodainus into the barony of Pilmuir. On the
same date Collielaw and Bowerhouse become part of this
barony, and sasine of the same is given to Binning, 28th

* Sasines. t Retours.

+ Ibid. § Acts and Decreets^ vol. 597.

492 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

August 1723.* The lands and teinds of Collielaw were
disponed to him by Ker of Morrieston.

The name of Binning brings us into contact with the
house of Binning and Byres, and the creation of the
Earldom of Haddington. The Gowrie conspiracy, in 1600,
gave John Ramsay the favour of King James VI. for saving
his life on that occasion. He was created Viscount Had-
dington, and on 28th August 1609, he received all the
lands and baronies which belonged to Melrose Abbey, with
certain exceptions. He was created Lord Ramsay of
Melrose, 25th August 161 5, but afterwards resigned it to
his brother. Sir George of Dalhousie, who with the King's
permission changed it for the title of Lord Ramsay of
Dalhousie. Lord John was afterwards created Earl of
Holderness, in England, and seems to have disposed of
the possessions attached to the Melrose title at the same
time that he abandoned the title itself to Lord Dalhousie.
At any rate, all the lands and baronies belonging to Melrose
Abbey were granted, in 16 18, to Sir Thomas Hamilton of
Priestfield, who, in 161 3, had been already created Lord
Binning and Byres, and was in 1619 created Earl of Melrose.
When Lord John, Earl of Holderness, died in 1625, without
issue. Lord Melrose secured the suppression of his own
title, and of his being created Earl of Haddington instead,
on 27th August 1627. He was King's Advocate, Lord Clerk
Register, Secretary of State, Lord President of the Court
of Session, and Keeper of the Privy Seal, prior to his
death in 1637.

The family of Binning do not appear to have enjoyed
Collielaw for any length of time, as we find that on 28th
May 1724, Charles grants a feu-charter in favour of James
* Sasines, 28th August 1723.

COLLIELAW 493

Fairgrieve, in which he conveys to him, " All and Haill these
parts and portions of the barony of Pilmuir called the lands
of Collielaw, with tower, fortalice, manor place, and haill
pertinents thereff, lying within the barony of Pilmuir parish
of Channelkirk, bailiary of Lauderdale, and sheriffdom of
Berwick, with All and Haill the teinds of the lands of
Collielaw." *

James Fairgrieve was one of that hardy class of plough-
men-farmers who from small beginnings rise, by diligence and
Scotch " hainin'," to possess, as lords and masters, the broad
acres over which in their youth they may have wandered as
herd-boys. His father was tenant in Threeburnford, in those
days, for thirty years, and James, after he had guddled his
trout as a boy in " Airhouse Water," and in his youth had
laid the old man's head in Channelkirk churchyard, was tenant
in his father's room for forty years more. He then resided
in " Nether Heartside," where he farmed a short time till he
went to live in Collielaw, which he had purchased, and where
he spent twenty years, finally ending his days as a residenter
in Lauder.

The description given of Collielaw in his title deeds show
it as quite a lordly dwelling, with a certain mediaeval dignity
surrounding it, suggestive of stirring days when fire and
force had to be calculated in the architecture of a habitation.
The modern indifference to the venerable relics of bygone
days in Lauderdale was yet in its inceptive stage, and
Collielaw stood clothed in its ancient distinction and
strength — proud, doubtless, of its past associations, but not
without forebodings surely of its coming dissolution. For
with the entrance of a peasant proprietary, there unfortun-

* Decreet of Locality^ 98-99; and Teind Court Papers, November 18,
1819 ; and " Wideopen Common Case," in Acts and Decreets, vol. 597.

494 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

ately also came with it a lack of sympathy for traditions
to which it was alien ; and the industrial awakening of
that age began to clamour for reform in cultivating and
clearing of land, as loudly as ever sounded in former days
the call for reform in morality. The same results ensued
in both cases. Much was swept away which was worth
more to any countryside than an extension of acres, and
which never can be replaced, though it may be lamented.
It humbly appears that the ties that bind us to the past
should never be broken, even though the past be a bad one,
for we require to be warned as well as encouraged, and if it
be permitted to men to build their dykes and cowsheds out
of old castle walls and habitations, hoary with venerable
eild, it is also conceivable that the time might come when
the same race would find it profitable to clear out the
gravestones of their forefathers, in order to have more
ground in which to plant their turnips. This unthinking
commercial spirit was largely responsible for the rude
ecclesiastical structures which were called churches in the
last century.

About 1729 there was a tenant in Collielaw called
Archibald Smith, who seems to have had independent views
regarding his rights on Wideopen Common. William Murray
held both farms of Eastertown and Threeburnford — the bad
system of " led " farms not being quite new in Lauderdale,
evidently— and sent his sheep of both farms to browse on
the common at will. Markets were dull, and there was no
demand for sheep, and William wished to keep them there
till matters mended. But Smith thought he was scourging
the Common at the general expense, and turned Murray's
sheep off with much heat and determination. Murray suc-
cumbed so far as to beg Smith to permit them to go on the

COLLIELAW 495

Common for a few weeks, as a favour, but Smith was in-
exorable and would not grant it. Murray thought that he
was treated " very unneighbourly," and an ardent tailor in
Pilmuir, aged seventy-five, in speaking of the occurrence,
characterised it as a " squabble," and declared that " the
voice of the country " considered Smith's conduct " robbery."
Smith was James Fairgrieve's brother-in-law, and lived
" under the same roof with him at Collielaw." The Common
was the cause of much hot blood, and ultimately had to be
taken in hand by the courts of law.*

On the 29th of July 1757 James Fairgrieve " of Collielaw,
now indweller in Lauder," conveyed by disposition the lands
of Collielaw to George Adinston of Carcant, sasine of which
was granted on the 4th November of the same year.f Mrs
Elizabeth Catherine and Isobell Binning are granted sasine
of Collielaw on 26th October 1761. On 27th September 1770,
William Riddell, W.S., receives the same in liferent, and
Lord Marchmont in fee. But on the nth of May 1765,
Elizabeth Binning, relict of Andrew Buchanan of Drumpellier,
Katherine Binning, and David Inglis, merchant in Edin-
burgh, and treasurer to the Bank of Scotland, her husband,
and Isobell Binning, daughters of Charles Binning of Pilmuir,
advocate, dispone finally all their rights in Collielaw to
George Adinston of Carcant, who conveys these lands once
more to Thomas, his son, on the 2nd July 1783, by dis-
position and assignation. The said Thomas Adinston, of
Carcant, passes them by the same process, 17th December
1 8 10, to the trustees of the Scottish Episcopal Fund,
and on Charter of Resignation by the trustee upon the
lordship and estate of Marchmont, 8th February 181 1.

* " Wideopen Common Case," Acfs and Decreets,
t Sasines.

496 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

The Binnings are still said to be Superiors of Collielaw in
1818.*

These trustees of the Scottish Episcopal Fund were the
Hon. James Clerk Rattray, one of the Barons of Exchequer
in Scotland ; Sir William Forbes of Pitsligo, Bart. ; Sir John
Hope of Craighall, Bart. ; Colin M'Kenzie, John Hay Forbes,
and Adam Duff, Esquires ; and Dr Thomas Spens,

In the Decreet of Locality f of Channelkirk stipend, it is
said that the Episcopal congregation of St John's, Edinburgh,
are possessed of Collielaw in 18 14. This church was built
by subscriptions from many prominent Episcopalians in the
year 1817, and as most of the gentlemen named above were
original contributors to the Building Fund, the "Trustees 'of
the Scottish Episcopal Fund " may have been confused in
the Decreet with the " Episcopal Congregation of St John's."
On the 31st December 18 19 these trustees were before the
Court of Teinds with a petition anent Collielaw Teinds,
which had been troublesome since the days of Charles
Binning, and it is therein stated that " the petitioners, who
now hold the lands of Collielaw as trustees for a charitable
purpose (having recently purchased them for behoof of that
charity)." This " charitable purpose " may hint at the
" Episcopal Fund " or the " Episcopal Congregation." It is
not quite clear. As these trustees died, however, we find
that the succeeding trustees were also seised in the same
lands and teinds of Collielaw, on disposition by the surviving
trustees, as late as 21st March and 24th December of the
year 1839. In 1852 Collielaw is in the hands of the Earl of
Lauderdale, and he still retains it.

As it stands at the present day, Collielaw is a farm of
530 acres, of varied soil from stiff clay to loamy, becoming
* Decreet of Locality, p. 100. t Page 354.

COLLIELAW 497

more stony and coarse as it rises towards the law. At its
lowest levels it is slightly moorish in nature. The approaches
to it are all good, as are also the field roads, which are kept
up by the tenant. Its yearly rent or valuation is £'^6i, i is. 6d.,
with id. of feu-duty and ground-annual. The rotation of
crops is generally the "five-shift," but there is no hard
and fast rule. Usually there are about 212 acres in grass,
rather more than less, 106 in turnips, and about the same in
crop as in grass. The buildings of the steading cannot be
called satisfactory as the present standard of farming is calcu-
lated. They would be greatly improved by being covered
over for cattle feeding. The water-supply is abundant for all
purposes, and drainage fairly good. There are somewhat
over 400 ewes on the farm. The markets are those attended
by nearly all Lauderdale farmers, and are satisfactory in their
methods. The new binders which are general in the dale
are in use here, and other new cultivators, such as grubbers,
have been introduced within recent years. The wages are
those prevalent in the district, and are not so high as those
further down country, as, for example, in Roxburghshire.
The smith work on the farm, and over all the parish,
is charged at lod. a shoe, or ^3, 15s. a year for keeping up
the requirements of a pair of horses. Joiners are on " penny
pay," that is, they are paid as work is done. The souls on
the farm number twenty-three in all.

Collielaw was farmed at the opening of this century by a
Mr Dobson. He was succeeded by Robert Hedderwick, of
whom a good story is told. The Road Trustees asked him to
take charge of the money allotted for the expenses of the
upkeep of the roads in the parish, and were disgusted to find
that he had spent it all on the road that leads from the
Lauder Road to Collielaw. The Trustees declared that as

2 I

498 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

not an honest man could be found in the parish to deal fairly
with this matter, they would give the money next to Rev.
John Brown, the minister. He would surely deal justly with
all the parish roads. But Mr Brown expended the year's
allowance allotted to him on the road leading from Braefoot
to the Manse ! Perhaps it is the least used road for carts in
the whole parish. It was once ill, twice worse.

Mr Stewart succeeded Mr Hedderwick, then his son
Charles Stewart.

The present tenant is Andrew Thomson, Esq. of Main-
hill, St Boswell's. He entered on Whitsunday 1881, for a
lease of nineteen years. His son, George J. Thomson, Esq.,
resides on the farm all the year, and he himself and family
during the autumn months. He is a staunch friend to the
Church of Scotland, a characteristic which is traditional in
the family, and far from being unknown in Channelkirk
Church.

For general advantage and beauty of situation, Collielaw
is perhaps inferior to no place in the valley. Lauderdale
is here at its broadest, and its undulating and spacious
holms along the Leader and Whelplaw Waters, with the
hills beyond Adinston and Longcroft rising in the distance,
form a pastoral scene of surpassing grace and loveliness. No
barren scar in glen or hillside breaks the soft impressiveness
of extended meadows and sunny correis ; and the wandering
sheep, browsing more than a thousand feet above sea-level,
or the fisher slowly following the windings of the stream,
together with the solitary form of some shepherd, or toiling
plough, blend pleasantly with the Arcadian aspect and quiet
serenity of the dale. Nor are the industrial amenities of
Collielaw to remain behind the picturesque ; for a few
months will probably see the locomotive rushing past its

COLLIELAW 499

approaches, lending the blessings of travelling and trading
convenience to the charms of bountiful nature. One regret
will nevertheless remain with us, amid all that is here
changeless and changing, viz., that the " Auld House o'
Collielaw is awa'."

CHAPTER XVII

AlRHOUSE — Aroives, Arwys, Arus, Arrois, Arras, Aruts.

The Name— Adam del Airwis — Strife at Arrois in 1476 — The Hop-
pringles — The Heriots of Arrois — The Somervilles of Airhouse, 1654
— "Arras, now called Airhouse," 1773 — Kirk-Session Squabbles —
Gloomy Days at Airhouse — Lord Lauderdale — Situation and Area of
Airhouse — Tenants — Parkfoot — Tenants.

No place in this parish has perplexed the writer more
than Airhouse, both as regards its name and its early
history. From its superior station and surroundings, its
general air of reserve and respectability, its advantages
for ancient methods of defence and modern cultivation,
one would expect its annals to be full and clear, and the
difficulty of tracing its genesis a minimum task. The
contrary of this is the case. Its name is puzzling, and it
has not been possible for us to get light upon its early
days further than the beginning of the fourteenth century.

The name " Airhouse " is a grandiosity of modern times,
and is a vulgar expansion of an ancient appellation which
is both more eye-sweet and etymologically interesting. It
seems to have come into general use about the beginning
of the seventeenth century.

In 1328 it comes under our notice first as "Airwis"
and " Aroves " ; in 1329, as " Arowes " ; in 1330 as " Arwys "

AIRHOUSE 501

and "Arovves"; in 1331 and 1332-3 it is " Arus." In 15 10
we have "Arous;" in 1627 it is first styled " Airhouse."
On Font's map, 1608, it is called " Arrowes," and on Moll's
map of 1725, it is still spelt in the same way.

From the contiguity of the three places, Airhouse,
Collielaw, and Bowerhouse, and the fact that they all lie
on the west side of the Leader, and might in very ancient
times have been possessed by one tribe, we were tempted
to seek a solution of the name in suggestions evoked by
reading Dr Skene's description of the Irish Tuath* or
tribe, where " Aire tuise " is a grade of rank in the tribe ;
" Boaire " being another, and " Ceile " another. It does
not appear, however, that the Irish ever settled in
Berwickshire to an extent such as might justify us in
seeking for an explanation along that path. There are
several suggestions, indeed, of an Irish connection with
Lauderdale in early times. Lauder system of agriculture,
for example, known as "co-aration of the waste," was the
same as that in existence at Kells,-f- where St Cuthbert
is said to have been born. The Irish story of St Cuthbert
brings him to the Lothians to his kinsfolk. In the days
of King Oswald, ruler of Northumbria, of which Lauder-
dale was a district, Bede tells us " From that time (635 A.D.)
many of the Scots (Irish) came daily into Britain, and,
with great devotion, preached the word to those provinces
of the English over which King Oswald reigned. J The
Irish chiefs, and Irish led by Norsemen, repeatedly raided
Berwickshire. Aed, son of Neil, King of Ireland, about
879 A.D., brought the whole of Bernicia (and therefore

* Celtic Scotland, vol. iii., pp. 142-148.
+ Gomme's Village Coinniunity, p. 153.
+ Ecclesiastical History, vol. iii., p. 3.

502 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

Berwickshire) under subjection to himself. * Notwith-
standing these historical facts, it is just possible that the
name of Airhouse may possess an etymological lineage
not dissimilar to the derivation of the name of Lauder-
dale. As a name, Lauderdale is admittedly derived from
the Water of Leader, and so also may Airhouse be de-
rived from Arras Water. This water is now called Mount-
mill Burn, but originally, and down to 1762 at least,
it was named " Arras Water." In its course it encircles
Airhouse braes and woods in the form of a reaper's hook,
if we take the point to lie at Threeburnford, and the
handle to extend from the bridge at old Peasmountford
down to Nether Howden. Yet it seems quite possible
also that instead of the water giving its name to the
house, the house may have given its name to the water.
The two views seem to be supported by the following
authorities : —

"The widely diffused root Ar causes much perplexity.
The Avar, as Caesar says, flows incredibili lenitate, while, as
Coleridge tells us, 'the Arve and Arveiron rave cease-
lessly.' We find, however, on the one hand a Welsh
word Araf, gentle, and an obsolete Gaelic ward Ar, slow,
and on the other we have a Celtic word, Arw, violent, and
a Sanskrit root Arb, to ravage, or destroy.

" From one or other of these roots, according to the
character of the river, we may derive the names of Arw
in Monmouth, the Are and Aire in Yorkshire, the Ayr
in Cardigan and Ayrshire, the Arre in Cornwall, the Arro
in Warwick, the Arrow in Hereford and Sligo, the Aray,
in Argyll, the Ara-glin and the Aragadeen in Cork, etc." f

* Celtic Scotland, vol. i., p. 331.

t Rev. Isaac Taylor's Words and Places.

AIRHOUSE 503

Both significations of gentle and violent can be applied
to " Arras " Water, according to the season of the year ;
and in ancient days, when it first received its name, its
character of violence, from the present-day evidence of
its inroads on the hillsides, must have been amply
maintained.

The other choice we have is from Macbain's Gaelic
Dictionary — " Welsh spelling of Aros is Arazus, connect-
ing it with rest." There is an Aros in Mull, and we are
informed by Gaelic-speaking scholars that Aruys, which
Airhouse is sometimes called, is a very likely spelling for
Aros, which means a dwelling, a mansion. Arisaig, for
example, may mean Aros-eig, the house, or port, of Eig.

That it may be either Welsh or Gaelic in spelling,
either Araws or Aros, is quite possible from the close
connection which Lauderdale maintained for generations
with Galloway, a Welsh-speaking district. Also, as the
Irish or Scots frequently invaded the south of Scotland
by way of Galloway, there were many opportunities for
Gaelic names to find a home in Lauderdale. Gille/alyn,
for example, is an inhabitant of Oxton in the I2th century,
and his name is Gaelic ; KelpJiope is from the Gaelic
Cailpeach ; Carfrae may be either Welsh or Gaelic ; and
Glengelt may not possibly be wholly Gaelic, although the
Glen in it seems correctly denominated so. But as the
Ottadini, the oldest historical inhabitants of Berwick-
shire, were claimed as Brythons, or kinsmen of the Welsh,
the name of Airhouse in its Welsh spelling may easily
find a home in that language, and, at least, date as far
back as the second century.

It is in 1328 A.D. that we stumble on the first reference
to Airhouse. Great changes had been effected, not only in

504 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

the country in general, but in Lauderdale in particular.
The De Morvilles had passed away, the Earls of Galloway
had lost their hold on the dale through John de Balliol,
whose high royal hopes had been dashed before the all-
conquering arm of Robert the Bruce. About the time
when the mists lift from Airhouse, Bruce was bestowing
upon his faithful followers all the lands and emoluments
which had fallen to him as King of Scotland. The
Douglases received Lauderdale, and long were Lords of
that Regality. It will be observed that " Adam of Airwis,"
in the following, is in receipt of an annual ten pound grant
from the King, no doubt for noble service, and draws it
direct from the customs of Berwick. He is also mentioned
in the high company of " Robert of Lauderdale, Guardian
of the Merse and the Camp of Berwick, and Sheriff of
the same," and we are warranted in supposing that he was
a man of considerable name and influence, and that the
King had honoured and rewarded him in this way.

The following are the several references*: — "1328 A.D.,
and to Adam of Airwis, for his fee, at the said term
(Pentecost), 100 shillings."

" And to Adam of Aroves, at the term of Martinmas,
after the time of the account, 100 shillings; and to the
same in supplement of the payment made to him at the
term of Pentecost of this account, xx shillings."

"A.D. 1329. — The accounts of the bailiffs and tax col-
lectors of Berwick . . . and from the Chamberlain by receipt
from Adam of Arowes, at his order, 20 shillings, for which
the Chamberlain will answer."

" And to Adam of Arowes, receiving annually ten pounds
{decern libras) from the grant of the King, by charter out

* Exchequer Rolls.

AIRHOUSE 505

of the forementioned custom, and as far as shall have
been provided for him from another source at the last
term of this account, and not more than this at the said
term, because twenty shillings {viginti solidi) of a re-
mainder will be divided in the account of the Lord
Chamberlain. The sum of this expense is viii'^ xlij li. iij s.
iij d. q. (;^842, 3s. 3id.)."

" And to Adam of Arwys, receiving annually ten pounds,
according to the grant of the King, by charter, at the
first term of this account, lOO shillings ; and to Dominus
Robert of Lauderdale, as part of his fee, one hundred merks
for his guardianship of the Merse, and of the Castle of
Berwick, and of the Sheriffdom of the same at the first
term of this account."

"A.D. 1331. — And to Adam of Arus, for his fee, at the
two terms of this account, ten pounds ; and to the Chamber-
lain acknowledging receipt, an account besides of xiiij li.
xixs. ixd. q. (;£"i4, 19s. 9id.)."

" I Feb. 1334. — Robert de la Tang acknowledges having
received by the hands of the Abbot and Convent of Scone,
;^20 sterling, in which they were indebted to Adam de la
Arus by a certain obligation, of which ;^20, as attorney of
the said Adam and his spouse, he holds himself well satis-
fied, and discharges the said Abbot and Convent. Attested
by the seals of John Gye, burgess of Perth, and of the
granter [both wanting], given at Perth on Monday next
preceding the Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin
Mary [Feb. i]. In the year of grace 1333 [34]."*

This last charter sustains the view that the proprietor
of Airhouse was a person of some dignity and importance.

♦ Original Charters, Register House, Edinburgh ; also, Liber de Scona,
No. 164.

506 , HISTORY OF CHANNELKIIIK

We are not to be surprised that we find him connected
with people so far removed from Lauderdale as Scone.
There is just the bare possibility that the " Arus " here might
be the " Aros " of Mull. But it is highly improbable. More-
over, so far as communication is concerned, when we con-
sider the wealth and Court influence of the man, his favour
with King Robert, and the metropolitan and court status
of Perth during that period, it will be conceded that for
Adam of Airhouse to have made his services obligatory
to the Abbot of Scone by a loan of money or otherwise, is
not a very remote contingency, considering the unsettled
nature of the times. We learn here that Adam was
married. In the Exchequer Rolls there is a notice which
seems to confirm this : " A.D. 1332. — Et gardropario, Katerine
del Fawsid et Alicie del Aruys, pro feodo suo, de mandato
custodis, per literam, xxx s," — " And to the keeper of the
wardrobe, Katherine of Fawsid, and to Alice of Aruys, for
fee, by order of the Warden, by letter, 30s."

Alice may have been his wife or daughter. There is no
doubt that she must have been officially engaged in honour-
able service at Court. A curious thing is observable in the
language of these last two notices. The French turn is quite
apparent, " Adam de la Arus," " Alicie del Aruys." The
French influence at this time was prevalent in Scotland.
For just a few years before the above date, the Scotch and
French had concluded a treaty in which one of the clauses
made good that, " Any peace between France and England
ceases if there is war between England and Scotland, and so
of any peace between England and Scotland should there be
war between France and England."* England was the
common enemy to the French and the Scotch, and before
* History of Scotland^ J. H. Burton, vol ii., p. 297.

AIRHOUSE 507

Bruce's time of royal successes, Wallace is reputed to have
gone to France to seek help from that quarter after the
disaster of Falkirk. The French de la Arus also clears up
another point with regard to the meaning of " Airhouse,"
which the Latin, with its lack of the article, fails to do. The
proprietor is "Adam of The Arus" a phrase which in the
popular speech of the district one sometimes hears to-day.
This would point to the meaning given in the Gaelic " Aros,"
" The House " as the original one.

With reference to " Katerine of Fawsid " being associated
with " Alice of Aruys " in the King's service, we take this
to confirm the evident identity of our Airhouse with the
" Arus " of the Exchequer Rolls, for " Fawside," as we surmise,
is the " Fallside " of the parish of Tranent. Moreover, that
they were both paid out of the customs of Berwick seems to
prove that the place was in Berwickshire ; moreover, " Robert
de Fausid " is a witness in a charter given by Allan of Hart-'
side to Sir Alexander de Seton of land in Oxton territory in
1327, exactly about the same time as these references ; show-
ing that the landed proprietors of " Fausid," " Arus," and
" Hertesheued " were in the habit of companying with each
other, and aiding each other in their business affairs.*

Perhaps " Ade de la Arus " was of French extraction
himself. The name "Ade" does not help us, however, as
it appears to be merely the diminutive of Adam, and the
French expressions in the charters may have resulted from
some French monk's method of writing them.

We have been unable to find any trace of Airhouse in
the charters of the religious houses ; that is, of Dryburgh,
Melrose, Kelso, St Andrews, Dunfermline, Holyrood, etc.,
with the exception of the above reference in the Book of
Scone. All remains, therefore, in profound darkness, re-
* Original Charters.

510 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

said to be bounded on the south by Wgstoun, and on the
west by " lie Arrous." * Here once more we meet with the
French form (Scotticised) of " TJie Arrous," " the House."
" Joneta Heriot of Aras " is heir of Thomas Heriot of Aras,
her grandfather, in 1610. -f- Jonet or Janet Hereot was
daughter to "the late James Hereot of Trabroun," as we
learn from a sasine of date nth July 1583, and was married
to John Borthwick, eldest son of Francis Borthwick and
Margaret Congleton of Ballincrief :|: In 1627 we have the
first mention of the form " Airhouse " from the Rev. Henry
Cockburn, minister at Channelkirk. In his report of his
church he says : — " Airhouse is in stok eight scoir merkis ;
personage, 20 lib. ; viccarage, 20 lib." Perhaps he was the
inventor of the expanded form of the name. Hillhouse and
Bourhouse in the parish might suggest " Airhouse " as the
correct spelling — these names being always pronounced
"Hillus" " Boorus," in a manner similar to "Arus, In
1631-32 we find this note in the Decreet of Locality: "The
Lord Humbie — his lands of Airhouse possessed by the Lady
(Trabroun)." She is said to " possess " the lands of Over
Howden in winter, although Lord Humbie owns them. In
1676, "Andreas Ker de Moriestoune," heir of Mark Ker, his
father, draws half the teinds of " Aruts" in this parish.§ As
if to make sure of the place, it is twice mentioned, first as
" Aruts," then as " Arids." Of course this right of teinds
descended from Lord Cardross, though in 1692 we find that
it had passed out of the Kers' hands. It was then in pos-
session of James Nicolson of Trabroun, who in 1693 "bound
and obliged himself, his heirs and successors, to warrant,
free, relieve, and skaithless keep the said George Somerville

* Great Seal. t Retours.

:|: Calendar of Laing Charters. § Retours.

AIRHOUSE 511

(of Airhouse) and Marion Wadderston his spouse, and their
foresaids, from all payment of any teinds payable out of the
said lands" of Airhouse.*

This reference to the " Somervilles of Airhouse," the
designation by which they are always quoted in the parish
to this day, leads to a brief account of that family in
this place. In 1490 we find John Somerville, Gilbert Somer-
ville, and Thomas Somerville, " tenants " in Glengelt.i* These
probably were the ancestors of the Somervilles, who, in
later times, were tenants in, or proprietors of, so many
farms in Upper Lauderdale.

The first historical notice which we find of the modern
Somervilles is of George Somerville, tenant in Carfrae,
who, together with his wife M. (or B.) Watterstone, received
from James Nicolson, of Trabroun, certain rights to Wideopen
Common on 19th May 1629. Nothing more appears to be
known of George except that he died in 1642, still tenant
in Carfrae, and was buried in Channelkirk churchyard.

There is mention of Adam Somerville in the Kirk
Records as " deacon " in Channelkirk Church. He keeps
the poor's money in 1650, he is called an elder in 1656,
and on November 25, 1661, he "desired the Session
might choose another deacon to keep the box. The Session
made choice for a year of James Somerville in Hetcha
(Headshaw) to keep the box." This arrangement seems
to derive from the following council — " The electioun of
Elderis and Deaconis aught to be used everie yeare once,
least that by long continuance of suche officiaris, men
presume upoun the libertie of the Churche."^ This is
the earliest direct evidence of that respect and trust which

* Decreet of Locality, p. 186. t Acta Doininorum Concilii.

X The Biike of Discipline (Knox's Works\ vol. ii.

512 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

the people in the parish have accorded unstintedly to the
Somerville name for three hundred years. At this early
time George Somerville is in Carfrae, James Somerville in
Headshaw, and " William Somerville in Glengelt." * When
Airhouse comes into their hands about 1693, they completely
hold the most northern district of the whole valley of
the Leader. A family fit to " possess the land " evidently,
and loyally accepting all the burdens and responsibilities of
their position, both in church and farm. Would that their
honourable example had been more generally followed !

James Somerville, son of the above George, became
tenant in Carfrae after his father's death. He was born
in 161 1, and died in 1698, aged 87 years. About 1693,
successful negotiations regarding the purchasing of Airhouse
were effected between the Somervilles and James Nicolson
of Trabroun, and we find James's son, George Somerville,
installed then as resident proprietor there. Airhouse was
at that time part of the Barony of Trabroun.

This George Somerville, apparently the first " Somerville
of Airhouse," was born 1654, and died 1741, on the 3rd
of April, aged 87. His wife, Marion Watterstone, pre-
deceased him on November 1737, aged 6^. It was during
his time that the five years' dispute took place regarding
the election of a minister to the parish church, and he
seems to have taken a keen interest in the matter. He
was an elder, and appeared at Earlston Presbytery on
July 15, 1697, along with another, "desiring a hearing of
some young men in order to a call."-f- On 22nd August,
1700, three years later, we find him petitioning the Presbytery
for more elders to Channelkirk. He is again at Presbytery
" reporting " on 26th December 1700, and on September
* Kirk Records. f Presbytery Records.

AIRHOUSE 513

25, 1 70 1, he is mentioned along with "Alex. Somerville "
as a heritor entitled to vote for a minister, the elections
then being limited to heritors and elders. He is evidently
disagreeably shocked at not having "carried his man," for
on September 3, 1702, he appears with many others
to offer objections to the minister's appointment, and
solemnly tables a paper " intituled The Reasons of a
Protestation against the ordaining of Mr Henry Home
Minister at Channelkirk ; " which, as usual, the Presbytery
considered as containing " nothing of moment," and pro-
ceeded to ordain.

There appears to have been another George Somerville
at this time in Heriotshall, for John Murray, Ouplaw
(Wooplaw), gets Heriotshall, 2nd September 1727, from
Alexander Somerville, mariner in Chatham, son of Alexander
Somerville, writer in Edinburgh, deceased, who was eldest
son of the deceased George Somerville of Heriotshall, and
Alison Bathgate.*

On 30th October 17 14 the George Somerville mentioned
above as elder and " protester " " grants disposition of the
said lands of Airhouse and Commonty Rights to James
Somerville, then eldest son,"t and the said James is found
also in 1739 to have purchased "those parts of Ugston
Lands on the west side of the highway from Peasemountford
to Lauder Burgh, formerly sold by Thomas Mathie to
James Somerville, younger of Airhouse, with part of
Glengelt Moss belonging to Ugston, and divided between
Thomas Mathie and James Somerville." At the date 17 14,
when he receives Airhouse, he is said to be "tenant in
Carthrae." :|: He was bereaved of his wife, Margaret

* Ac/s and Decreets, vol. 597. Mack. f Ibid.

X Sasines.

2 K

514

HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

Adinstone, in the spring of 1738, and his young son George
in the spring of 1741, aged 22. He himself survived till
1 6th May 1758, when his bones were also laid in Channelkirk
graveyard, at the age of 72. His daughter Agnes followed
him in 1761, aged 45, after having afflicted his heart
and family honour by standing twice on the repentant
stool for a woman's weakness* The " rebukes " which
she received must have been cruel to her nearest relatives,
who were in authority, for " the minister ordered the officer
to call James and George Somervail, elders, to meet at
the manse upon the 4th instant." They had been staying
away, doubtless, out of shame, poor men. The best loved
child often deals the keenest blows to a parent's heart. The
family tombstone says she died November 26, 1761, but
the notice of her burial is given in the Kirk Records under
31st January 1762.

It was in 1733 that this James Somerville bought from the
Thomas Mathie mentioned above, and who was a " merchant
in Cockenzie," " those parts and portions of the lands of
Ugston called Pickleraw, the Forty-shilling Lands, and
Temple Lands with commonty rights, which seem to have
been sold again to Mr Justice of Justicehall in i739.t In
1742 we find "James Somervail of Airhouse and Oxton
Mains " attending a heritors' meeting to assist in appor-
tioning among themselves the burden of the schoolmaster's
salary.j He took a warm interest in all that concerned
the well-being of the parish, and was always at his post
whether in kirk or market. He is regular at all the Kirk-
Session meetings till the time of his death, old man
though he was, and had the most trying road in the

* Kirk Records. f Acts and Decreets, vol. 597.

t Kirk Records.

AIRHOUSE 515

parish, perhaps, to be encountered every time he attended.
He is sent to represent the church at the Synod of Dunse,
April 1753, and seems to have been competent for all his
duties up till a very short time before his death. Just
before the entry under 4th June 1758, there is the
customary notice in such cases, " Mortcloth money for
James Somervail of Airhouse, £^, 12s," He was sur-
vived by his second wife, Elizabeth Allan, forty-three
years, she having lived till 19th July 1801, dying at the
age of eighty.

The Somervilles in evidence after this date are " George
Somerville in Carfrae," elder and treasurer in the church ;
George Somerville, tenant in Hartsyde^ who in 1754 is
painfully prominent in the Records as having been re-
buked from his seat, and " paying his penalty " for the
well-known sin ; and James Somerville of Headshaw.

James Somerville's son, George, was in his ninth year
when his father died, he having first seen the world in
1749, and by-and-by, about 1764, when he is a stripling
of fifteen, we find him designated " George Somerville of
Airhouse." He appears to have married in September
1773. It is on 27th September of 1773 that sasine was
granted to John Pringle of Haining in liferent, and
Robert Scott of Trabroun in fee, " of All and Haill the lands
of Arras, now called Airhouse," etc. This does not imply,
of course, that the Somervilles were out of Airhouse.
The same estate may be the subject of separate fees ;
the property or dominium utile being vested in one person,
and the superiority or dominimn directum in another.
These may also pass from one person to another as
separate estates. Scott held in fee simple, and was
Superior ; Pringle had a lifetime interest, and Somerville

516 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

was, it seems, in the place of vassal in Airhouse,* The
steady support which was given to the church by his
forbears does not stand out so clearly in his character.
We surmise that he had been a staunch churchman till
a new minister came into the parish, and the reverend
gentleman not being his choice, his love for the kirk had
cooled and even hardened into something like freezing
contempt. The system of electing a minister in Presby-
terian churches is admirably fitted to create such icy
temperatures in a parish, and there are few parishes in
Scotland at present but are either undergoing, or not long
past, or just about to enter their Glacial Period on this
account. The facts of Somerville's experience are as
follows: — The Rev. David Scott died i6th April 1792.
" There was neither minister nor elder in the parish," and
the heritors met to dispense the poor's money and clear
up the Kirk-Session accounts. George Somerville of Air-
house signs the minute as chairman. On 26th December
of the same year the Rev. Thomas Murray receives a
" call " to Channelkirk. Presumably he was objectionable
to many, who stayed away from church out of a feeling
of discontent. Or, perhaps, the new minister's fiery zeal
may not have suited the placid Christianity of such quiet
people. He seems to have smitten the " erring ones "
hip and thigh ; and he made bare his arm even upon the
minister of Lauder also. Murray appears to have been
what Upper Lauderdale people call "an awfu' yin." The
drunkards and fornicators and church despisers heard
him and trembled! On 21st January 1798, Mr Murray
represented to the members of the Session that several
individuals of the congregation had totally absented them-
* ?>ee /urtdt'cal Styles, p. 125.

AIRHOUSE 517

selves for many months past from public worship without
assigning any reason for such improper conduct, and that
on a late occasion the following persons, Mr Somervail of
Airhouse, Mr Bertram (tenant) of Hartsyde, Mr Douglas
(tenant) of Kirktounhill, and Mr David Turnbull in Ugston,
after attending a funeral to the churchyard of Channel-
kirk at the very hour of public worship, instead of enter-
ing the church, did, in the face of the congregation, turn
their back upon it, and retire to Airhouse. Was the like
ever heard of in any parish ? The Session are unanimously
of opinion that such conduct was highly indecent and
scandalous.

It does not appear that "Somervail of Airhouse" or
his rebellious following grew more Christian in their demean-
our as the years passed by. They seem to have made
converts rather, and, as usual, the convert outstripped the
master in zeal and pious obstinacy. On 24th July 1799 "the
Session took into consideration the cases of George Somer-
ville, Esq. of Airhouse, and Robert Hogarth, tenant in
Carfrae (once famous in this district for his agricultural
enterprise), and after reasoning on the subject, were unani-
mously of opinion that as the gentlemen had expressed no
regret for their past indecent conduct, in deserting for almost
two years the ordinances of publick worship in this parish
church, having refused any resolution of more decent and
Christian conduct in time coming ; and as Mr Robert
Hogarth in particular, in conversation with Mr Murray on
the subject, seemed totally insensible of the impropriety of
such conduct, and absolutely refused to give any promise of
more orderly behaviour in future, the Session are unani-
mously of opinion that the gentlemen ought not to be
admitted to the sealing ordinances of the Christian religion

518 HISTORY OF CHANNELKIRK

till they express their sorrow for their past conduct, and "
etc., etc. A great storm consequently raged round the hills,
and reverberated among the farms, and surged up and down
the valley for a while. So serious was the matter, that
Channelkirk Session were afraid to decide in the case, lest
their judgment might confound their mercifulness, and Dr
Ford of Lauder and the minister of Gordon were appealed to
for a gracious and unbiassed decision. After this there were
meetings and consultations, and soothing counsels, and much
Christian pity and hair-strokings. But all to no purpose. It
was a day of hardening of hearts, and the prince and power
of the air brooded triumphantly over Airhouse and Carfrae.
Then fulminations from the Session descended upon them.
They were to be cut off! Sniffs and snorts from Airhouse and
Carfrae were returned as answer. Nourishing their hearts as
in a day of slaughter ! But the day — not the Judgment Day,
but the Sacrament day — at length arrived. No " token " was
to be given to the stiff-necked and rebellious scoffers.
Hogarth, however, boldly entered the church and demanded
his " token," but was promptly refused, and debarred admit-
tance through that pearly gate. Somerville of Airhouse
haughtily remained at home, and moved on his chosen way,
as listed him.

After this unfortunate squabble the Laird of Airhouse
took little interest in Church matters. There is evidence,
too, that he was not so prosperous in his farm — a "jidgmint"
on him, of course — yet he was ever kind to and mindful of
the poor. Such items as " Given in by Mr Somerville to
the poor," so much, attest this. That Airhouse was not
a gold mine to him seems indicated by the circumstance
that he found it necessary, in 1776, conjunct with his
brother William, merchant in Glasgow, to grant a bond

AIRHOUSE 519

in security for ;^iooo to George Miller, brewer at the
Abbey of Holyrood House, over Airhouse, Airhouse teinds,
and all his other property — a burden of which he did not
fully get clear till the year 1811.*

About 18 18 George and his son James, "younger
of Airhouse," are found together at heritors' meetings,
but on 5th May 1826 James appears alone, and we then
know that the old father is no more.f The notice in the
Kirk Records runs, "April 17, 1825. — Mr Somerville, best
mortcloth from Airhouse ; " but the tombstone in the church-
yard says, " Here lies George Somerville of Airhouse, who
died 7th March 1825, aged 76!' His wife, Robina Adair,
died twenty-four years before him, on 6th January 1801.
Three children predeceased him also, so that the shadows
of debt and death had made the pathway of life somewhat
gloomy for him.

He is remembered in the district as being a man not
tall in stature, but hardy made, wiry, well-wearing, and
by no means infirm of will or purpose. His dislike of
poachers, for example, was strong to notoriety. He scorned
all aid from the " limbs of the law," and engaged the depre-
dators s